De heilige Bartholomeus

The Master of the High Altar of Saint Jacob's in Nuremberg, an anonymous painter named after his principal surviving work, was active in the middle decades of the fourteenth century and represents the flourishing of Gothic panel painting in Franconia. This image of Saint Bartholomew, one of the twelve apostles traditionally depicted holding the knife of his martyrdom (he was flayed alive), formed part of an altarpiece program presenting individual saints for veneration. The work reflects the distinctive character of Nuremberg's Gothic painting tradition, which developed independently of both the Bohemian and Cologne schools.

Tempera on panel with gold ground in the Franconian Gothic manner, with the saint rendered in a somewhat hieratic, frontal pose. The painting shows the characteristic northern European Gothic combination of linear precision in drapery folds with flat, decorative gold patterning and strong local colors.