What the hell is that all about? Is there a biblical reference that I'm missing, here?
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Wednesday, January 11, 2012
bien sans sa peau
So I followed the Instapundit link to the Vatican's new 3-D virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel, which is pretty darn incredible, and found myself zooming in on this image:
What the hell is that all about? Is there a biblical reference that I'm missing, here?
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What the hell is that all about? Is there a biblical reference that I'm missing, here?
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8 comments:
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That's Saint Bartholomew, who was martyred by being skinned alive. He's pictured holding his own flayed skin along with the knife that was used to kill him.
ReplyDeleteAccording to legend, face on the skin of St. Bart is that of Michelangelo. Perhaps a comment on the task.
ReplyDeleteWhat Lorianne said. But one more fillip: the flayed skin also is a sort of distorted self-portrait of Michelangelo.
ReplyDeleteDarn! Beat to the punch.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a reference to the film Men in Black, where the alien kills Edgar and wears his skin.
ReplyDeleteSince Saint Bartholomew still has his own skin (and whom does he resemble, I wonder) and bears the knife, and since the skin is apparently that of Michelangelo, then is Michelangelo depicting himself as a flayed 'martyr'? But for what? Art? Or?
ReplyDeleteJeffery Hodges
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As far as I can tell, the skinning isn't biblical, so you need to know your Lives of the Saints. Guess I should get reading.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime... did no one get the French pun in the title? Not a word of commentary on that. I'm so déçu.
I caught the pun, Kevin, but I figured everybody did if I did, so I said nothing.
ReplyDeleteGood pun, anyway.
Jeffery Hodges
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