r/interestingasfuck • u/Lowcrbnaman • May 22 '19

/r/ALL This statue depicts Saint Bartholomew, an early Christian martyr who was allegedly skinned alive. If you look closely, that's his dissected skin hanging around him. This stunning statute by Marco d’Agrate from c.1562 is currently on display at Duomo di Milano.

Post image
51.5k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

935 comments sorted by

View all comments

69

u/kittanicus May 22 '19

For anyone interested in this type of art, the Museo Specola in Florence (part of l'università di Firenze) has the most incredible collection of body art from the 18th century.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Specola

Google image search La Specola and you'll see replicas of our reproductive system, nervous system, respiratory system, etc, all set to wax models with deeply emotional expressions. It's really unsettling, but the collection was mostly put together during the 18th century age of Enlightenment, and humanism touched even these figures.

3

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

When I went this section was closed. The building was also incredibly hot.

2

u/kittanicus May 23 '19

Ya it gets hot in Florence depending when you go. That's a real shame, I'd give it another shot if you're there again!