ESCUELA ESPAÑOLA S. XVII Work traditionally attributed to Juan de Valdés Leal. The iconography that we see here is closely related to a model of great development in the sculptural representation of the saint since the 17th century, although it is not uncommon to see it in painting. In his right hand he holds the speaking symbol of his martyrdom: the knife with which he was skinned alive. In his left hand are the sacred scriptures and a chain that extends until it is lost at the bottom of the work and that would meet a shackle clinging to the neck of Astaroth, a demon whose tail we can only see peeking out of the lower left corner. . Astaroth, a corrupt angel punished by God by rebelling against his power, was, according to the Golden Legend of James of the Maelstrom, defeated by Saint Bartholomew during the apostle's preaching in Armenia. The work could have been part of an apostolate, sets of thirteen paintings (of the twelve apostles and Christ, in the center), which were so in vogue during the 17th century and after the Council of Trent. We know apostolates by Greco, Velázquez, Rubens, Ribera, or Salmerón preserved in the Prado. 152 x 119cm