ST BARTHOLOMEW IN GILDED WOOD, Lombard School, late 18th century

h cm 61

Finely carved, it depicts Saint Bartholomew naked, bound to a tree trunk and captured in an intense expression of stoic suffering. The figure, rendered with meticulous anatomical detail, alludes to his martyrdom—traditionally associated with flaying—and is set upon a volute-adorned pedestal that accentuates its vertical and dramatic tension.