São Bartolomeu

By 1661 Rembrandt had come through the worst stretch of his life. Five years earlier he had gone bankrupt, his house and collection sold off, and he was living more modestly in Amsterdam and painting for himself as much as for buyers. In these years he made a run of brooding half-length apostles and holy men, of which this is one. The saint is Bartholomew, identified by the knife in his hand, the blade that flayed him alive in the martyrdom stories. Rembrandt lays the paint on thick and rough here, building the furrowed brow and heavy hands almost in relief, the surface catching light like worked clay. The face is so particular that many think a real Amsterdammer sat for it, dressed up in the guise of the saint.