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disagreeable than the stout figure of St. Bartholomew holding a flaying knife in one hand and his own mortal hide in the other.
This is not a pleasant spectacle; but Michael Angelo did not paint for other people's pleasure, but rather to satisfy his own conscience.
It was customary to introduce St. Bartholomew in this manner, for there was no other way in which he could be identified.
We found the towering form of St. Christopher on the left side of the Saviour rather more of an eyesore than St. Bartholomew, whose expression of awe partially redeems his appearance.
The Saviour has a herculean frame, but his face and head are magnificent.
He has no beard, and his hair is arranged in festoons which gives the impression of a wreath of grape leaves.
The expression of his face is the noblest I have seen in any work of art in Rome; the face that has risen through suffering; calm, compassionate, immutable.
The Madonna seems like a girl beside this stalwart form, and she draws close to her son with naive timidity at the vast concourse which crowds about them.
Her face is expressive of resignation and compassion rather than any joyful feeling.
The left side of this vast painting, in which the bodies of men and women are rising from their graves, is less interesting than the right side, where the saints and blessed are gathered
1905. E. P. DUtton and Co. Boston,.
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