I thought this commentary was as interesting as Michelangelo's image of himself.
A self-portrait
(https://cdn.kastatic.org/ka-perseus-images/a64748da1db0d02e0b008ae2972bd3deb629199c.jpg)
St. Bartholomew (detail), Michelangelo (flayed), Last Judgment, Sistine Chape, fresco, 1534-1541 (Vatican City, Rome)
Even more poignant is Michelangelo’s insertion of himself into the fresco. His is the face on the flayed skin held by St. Bartholomew, an empty shell that hangs precariously between heaven and hell. To his learned audience, the flayed skin would bring to mind not only the circuмstances of the saint’s martyrdom but also the flaying of Marsyas by Apollo. In his foolish arrogance, Marsyas challenged Apollo to a musical contest, believing his skill could surpass that of the god of music himself. His punishment for such hubris was to be flayed alive. That Michelangelo should identify with Marsyas is not surprising. His contemporaries had dubbed him the “divine” Michelangelo for his ability to rival God himself in giving form to the ideal body. Often he lamented his youthful pride, which had led him to focus on the beauty of art rather than the salvation of his soul. So, here, in a work done in his mid 60s, he acknowledges his sin and expresses his hope that Christ, unlike Apollo, will have mercy upon him and welcome him into the company of the elect.
The Head of Christ by Warner Sallman
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/eZ0u3hPDEDw5BGXNVjNMX8g31zbOLOxy0F9v0e0ptA9HouBHtUS5e0ugngu8QGCsA9QAykk66yeVRV6c3jhBCLSKXN5OIhMY2qfzbRsqqAp2qkah2KFcq-d2RvxX7xRZ2h7SM21F)
From Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_of_Christ
Many Lutheran and Roman Catholic Christians have praised the painting for the hidden host on the forehead of The Head of Christ, and a chalice on his temple, both pointing to the Holy Eucharist.
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Morgan, David (1998). Visual Piety: A History and Theory of Popular Religious Images. University of California Press. p. 131. ISBN 9780520923133. It seems significant that the majority of writers who mentioned the sacramental imagery of chalice and host came from the highly sacramental traditions of Lutheranism and Roman Catholicism (eleven and seven of twenty-two letters, respectively). In both instances, the identity of the elements of the sacrament of the altar with the physical person of Jesus corresponds to the respective doctrines of the sacrament: real presence or transubstantation. A Lutheran clergyman from Indiana referred to the Head of Christ as the "Communion Christ" and wrote that "I remind my first communion class and catechism students that everytime we take communion we meet and see Christ as we have never seen him before" (372). A Passionist nun wrote that the Head of Christ hanging in the parlor of her convent in Japan exhibits the chalice and host and "leads one to love Jesus [who is] always present in the Bread and Chalice of the Eucharist" (380). Thus, the mystery of hidden images in the person of Jesus seems an appropriate metaphor for the mystery of the sacrament of the altar to those Christians who search for a way of expressing the embeddedness of the divine in the matter of the Eucharistic meal and its prototype in the incarnation.