The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew, Nottingham 15th century

An exceptionally rare Nottingham alabaster panel depicting the Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew. The poor saint was flayed alive. This scene is extremely rare in Nottingham alabaster carvings. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has the only one known and in his description of this sculpture, Jeremy Warren states in the Ashmolean catalogue that this is “the prime surviving example of the subject”: “Although a number of alabaster statues of the saint survive, the martyrdom itself appears to be an exceptionally rare scene in English alabaster carving. As well as no.191 (the number of this sculpture in the Ashmolean catalogue) which must be regarded as the prime surviving example of the subject …” (Jeremy Warren in “Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, Volume 2, p. 191).
Our panel is executed in a good size (42,5cm) and is unbroken. It has suffered from humidity through the centuries and there are two minor losses: loss of a fraction of the left upper corner of the panel, loss of front part of arm from the central torturer in the lower register. There is one tiny hole - due to erosion? - in the central bottom part between the feet of the tortures. The typical Nottingham green coloured grass with daisies is still visible on many parts in the lower and middle register. The torturers are doing their jobs, without any emotion, one of them holds the flaying knife in his mouth.
Dimensions: 42,5 x 26 x 4,5cm

Reference:
Ashmolean Museum (Oxford)
Accession Number: AN1836.p146.488
Dated 1401-1450
URL https://images.ashmolean.org/search/?searchQuery=Bartholomew

Bibliography:
“Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, Volume 2” by Jeremy Warren