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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8 comments:

  1. LorianneJanuary 11, 2012 at 4:25:00 AM GMT+9

    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.

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  2. FFM DaveJanuary 11, 2012 at 5:22:00 AM GMT+9

    According to legend, face on the skin of St. Bart is that of Michelangelo. Perhaps a comment on the task.

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  3. ElissonJanuary 11, 2012 at 5:35:00 AM GMT+9

    What Lorianne said. But one more fillip: the flayed skin also is a sort of distorted self-portrait of Michelangelo.

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  4. The Maximum LeaderJanuary 11, 2012 at 7:32:00 AM GMT+9

    Darn! Beat to the punch.

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  5. CharlesJanuary 11, 2012 at 11:57:00 AM GMT+9

    I thought it was a reference to the film Men in Black, where the alien kills Edgar and wears his skin.

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  6. Horace Jeffery HodgesJanuary 12, 2012 at 4:24:00 AM GMT+9

    Since 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?

    Jeffery Hodges

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  7. Kevin KimJanuary 12, 2012 at 2:55:00 PM GMT+9

    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.

    In the meantime... did no one get the French pun in the title? Not a word of commentary on that. I'm so déçu.

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  8. Horace Jeffery HodgesJanuary 13, 2012 at 6:31:00 AM GMT+9

    I caught the pun, Kevin, but I figured everybody did if I did, so I said nothing.

    Good pun, anyway.

    Jeffery Hodges

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