Saint Bartholomew was one of the Twelve Apostles and is commonly identified by Christian tradition with Nathanael, whom Jesus calls “an Israelite in whom there is no deceit” in the Gospel of John. While the Synoptic Gospels list Bartholomew among the apostles without narrative detail, the identification with Nathanael provides his principal Gospel context.

According to later tradition, Bartholomew undertook missionary work in the East, particularly in Armenia. He is said to have been martyred there, most famously by being flayed alive, a detail that strongly shaped his later cult and iconography. His association with distant missionary territories contributed to his prominence in medieval devotional tradition.

Saint Bartholomew in Art

Saint Bartholomew appears in Christian art primarily as a member of the apostolic group and, from the Middle Ages onward, as a martyr distinguished by his unusual and dramatic manner of death. In apostolic cycles, he is typically shown among the Twelve, often identified by inscription rather than by a fixed visual type. In later medieval and Renaissance art, Bartholomew is most commonly depicted with the attributes of his martyrdom, notably a flaying knife or his own flayed skin. These striking images emphasise both his suffering and steadfast faith, making him one of the most immediately recognisable apostles in Western art. His iconography is especially prominent in sculpture and large-scale narrative programmes.