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Compare this Portrait of a Boy, painted by a follower of Bartolomeo Vivarini about 1499, to Saint Bartholomew. Enlarge

Saint Bartholomew was said to be skinned alive as punishment for his Christian beliefs. Because of this horrible death, he is often holding a knife and wearing a red robe when he is pictured in works of art. Artists in the early Renaissance struggled to paint human figures in a life-like way. Saint Bartholomew's face, hands and feet are finely detailed and life-like, but his knee under his robe appears to be disconnected from his foot. As artists learned more about human anatomy from scientific advances during the Renaissance, human figures in works of art became more realistic and less awkward.

This image of Saint Bartholomew was painted with tempera paint, which helps to explain the stiff folds of his robes. Tempera paint dries very quickly, and so it cannot be blended and shaded as easily as the oil paint that was invented later in the Renaissance. However, the artist's use of light and shadow help to make Saint Bartholomew a life-like and active figure. Notice the bright white of the fabric loop at Bartholomew's waist under his right forearm compared to the shadows on the fabric under his left forearm. As a result, Bartholomew appears to be turning as he steps towards us into the light.

Compare this painting to Portrait of a Boy painted about 1499 by a follower of Bartolomeo Vivarini in the Renaissance Connection.

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