Manuscript Leaf with the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, from a Laudario

Manuscript Leaf with the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, from a Laudario

Pacino di Bonaguida

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

On this page, the final moments of the martyrdom of the apostle Bartholomew unfold with a dance-like grace that lends a sacred air to horrific events. At the left, three tormentors flay his legs and arms as Bartholomew stands chained to a city gate. At the right, the saint, wearing his own flesh tied about his neck as a mantle, kneels in prayer before a rock, his haloed head tumbling to the ground. Pacino was a leading member of the painters’ guild in Florence. This page comes from the most important manuscript created in that city in the first half of the fourteenth century, a laudario, or book of hymns in Italian.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Manuscript Leaf with the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, from a LaudarioManuscript Leaf with the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, from a LaudarioManuscript Leaf with the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, from a LaudarioManuscript Leaf with the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, from a LaudarioManuscript Leaf with the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, from a Laudario

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.