The apostle Bartholomew (1657)
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 1606 – 1669
oil on canvas (123 × 100 cm) — 1657
Acts 1:13 - And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
In his right hand Bartholomew holds a butcher's knife, his traditional attribute. It is a symbol of his martyrdom: he is said to have been flayed alive.
It appears that the apostle is sunk in thought. Such introspective portraits are typical for Rembrandt's late works. He would make another portrait of Bartholomew in 1661.
The painting came into the Putnam collection in 1952, after having been part of collections in England, Russia, England and New York.
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