The Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew

Jusepe de Ribera, the Spanish painter who lived from 1591 to 1652, painted The Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew in 1634. The oil on canvas measures 104 by 113 centimetres. The saint, bare-chested, spreads his arms and raises his face to a light falling from the upper left. Three men surround him in deep brown shadow, and one holds a knife and a sharpening rod.

Richard Barré Dunning, Lord Ashburton, bought the painting in Italy around 1810 for his uncle-in-law George Cranstoun, Lord Corehouse, who died in 1850. It descended in the Cranstoun family to Colonel Alstair Joseph Edgar Cranstoun, and was sold at Sotheby's in London on 6 July 1983. A private collection in London held it until 1990.

Sotheby's sold it in London on 4 July 1990, as lot 83, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington records the purchase. The Financial Times reported that the London dealer Agnew paid £2.75 million, and does not say whether that includes the buyer's premium. Dollar equivalents differ. The Washington Post gave $4.75 million in 1991, while a conversion at the exchange rate of the day gives about $4.89 million.