The sculpture San Bartolomeo scorticato (Flayed St Bartholomew), made in 1562 by the Lombard sculptor Marco d’Agrate, left the Duomo today for a necessary restoration ordered by the Veneranda Fabbrica for conservation reasons.
One of the most famous sculptures in Milan Cathedral, its return to the Duomo is expected in spring 2025.
The statue represents the fisherman Bartholomew, one of Christ’s Apostles, sent out to preach his word throughout the world. According to tradition, Bartholomew went as far as Armenia, where he converted King Polimius, his wife, and twelve entire cities to the Christian faith. These conversions aroused the envy of the priests of the local divinities, who set Astiage, brother of Polimius, against him. He ordered Bartholomew to be punished, skinned alive, and then beheaded.
Marco d’Agrate, therefore, depicts Bartholomew skinned and with the Gospel in his hand. The sculpture is characterised by the particular attention paid to the anatomy and by the emphasis on the martyr’s body, without skin, which slides behind his back like a robe.
At the base of the work a later epigraph celebrates the mastery of the artist, making it a real “talking” sculpture – NON ME PRAXITELES SED MARC(US) FINXIT AGRATIS – PRAXITELES DID NOT SCULPT ME, BUT RATHER MARCO D’AGRATE.
Initially placed outside the Cathedral, it was brought inside in the last quarter of the 16th century. Here, in a few months, the statue will return.
