The Denial of Saint Peter (Rembrandt)

Last updated
The Denial of Saint Peter
Dutch: De verloochening van Petrus
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 012.jpg
The Denial of Saint Peter
Artist Rembrandt
Year1660 (1660)
Typepainting
Mediumoil on canvas
SubjectThe three acts of denial of Jesus by the Apostle Peter as described in the four Gospels of the New Testament.
Dimensions154 cm× 169 cm(61 in× 67 in)
LocationRijksmuseum, Amsterdam
OwnerRijksmuseum
AccessionSK-A-3137 [1]

The Denial of Peter is a 1660 painting by Rembrandt, now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It depicts the denial of Peter, an event in the Passion of Jesus.

Contents

After the Last Supper, Jesus has been arrested, and taken to the house of the high priest Caiaphas for trial by the Sanhedrin. The apostle Peter has gone after Jesus, where a servant woman had recognised him as one of Jesus's followers. Peter in a white robe gestures his denial, as two armed guards observe to the left. In the background, Christ looks over his shoulder as he is led away to Pilate's court. [1]

The painting measures 154 cm × 169 cm (61 in × 67 in). It is signed and dated, "Rembrandt 1660". [1]

Rembrandt never made a journey to Italy, as many of his contemporaries did. It is therefore thought that his treatment of themes such as the Denial derived substantially from prints based on foreign works. In this case there are two engravings, both based on paintings by the Flemish artist Gerard Seghers, which are implicated in Rembrandt's Denial. The first is by Schelte a Bolswert, [2] the second an engraving by Giovanni Antonio de Paoli. [3]

After passing through the hands of several art collectors and dealers in the Netherlands and then France, the painting was sold with 118 other artworks to Catherine II of Russia in 1781. It remained in the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg until it was sold secretly with other works by the government of the Soviet Union. It was bought by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 1933. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rijksmuseum</span> National museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Rijksmuseum is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Concertgebouw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baroque painting</span> European art from about 1590 to 1750

Baroque painting is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. The movement is often identified with Absolutism, the Counter Reformation and Catholic Revival, but the existence of important Baroque art and architecture in non-absolutist and Protestant states throughout Western Europe underscores its widespread popularity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerrit Dou</span> Dutch painter (1613–1675)

Gerrit Dou, also known as GerardDouw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for his trompe-l'œil "niche" paintings and candlelit night-scenes with strong chiaroscuro. He was a student of Rembrandt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caravaggisti</span> Artists who were stylistic followers of the late 16th-century Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio

The Caravaggisti were stylistic followers of the late 16th-century Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio. His influence on the new Baroque style that eventually emerged from Mannerism was profound. Caravaggio never established a workshop as most other painters did, and thus had no school to spread his techniques. Nor did he ever set out his underlying philosophical approach to art, the psychological realism which can only be deduced from his surviving work. But it can be seen directly or indirectly in the work of Rubens, Jusepe de Ribera, Bernini, and Rembrandt. Famous while he lived, Caravaggio himself was forgotten almost immediately after his death. Many of his paintings were reascribed to his followers, such as The Taking of Christ, which was attributed to the Dutch painter Gerrit van Honthorst until 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolaes Maes</span> Dutch painter (1634–1693)

Nicolaes Maes was a Dutch painter known for his genre scenes, portraits, religious compositions and the occasional still life. A pupil of Rembrandt in Amsterdam, he returned to work in his native city of Dordrecht for 20 years. In the latter part of his career he returned to Amsterdam where he became the leading portrait painter of his time. Maes contributed to the development of genre painting in the Netherlands and was the most prominent portrait painter working in Amsterdam in the final three decades of the 17th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriël Metsu</span> Dutch painter

Gabriël Metsu (1629–1667) was a Dutch painter of history paintings, still lifes, portraits, and genre works. He was "a highly eclectic artist, who did not adhere to a consistent style, technique, or one type of subject for long periods". Only 14 of his 133 works are dated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hendrick ter Brugghen</span> Dutch painter (1588–1629)

Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen was a Dutch painter of genre scenes and religious subjects. He was one of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio – the so-called Utrecht Caravaggisti. Along with Gerrit van Hondhorst and Dirck van Baburen, Ter Brugghen was one of the most important Dutch painters to have been influenced by Caravaggio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rembrandt</span> Dutch painter and printmaker (1606–1669)

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of art and the most important in Dutch art history. It is estimated Rembrandt produced a total of about three hundred paintings, three hundred etchings and two thousand drawings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aert de Gelder</span> Dutch painter

Aert de Gelder was a Dutch painter. He was the only Dutch artist to paint in the tradition of Rembrandt's late style into the 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Adriaensz Backer</span> Dutch painter

Jacob Adriaensz Backer was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He produced about 140 paintings in twenty years, including portraits, religious subjects, and mythological paintings. In his style, he was influenced by Wybrand de Geest, Rubens and Abraham Bloemaert. He is also noted for his drawings of male and female nudes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerard de Lairesse</span> Dutch painter

Gerard or Gérard (de) Lairesse was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art theorist. His broad range of skills included music, poetry, and theatre. De Lairesse was influenced by the Perugian Cesare Ripa and French classicist painters such as Charles le Brun, Simon Vouet and authors such as Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine. His importance grew in the period following the death of Rembrandt. His treatises on painting and drawing, Grondlegginge Ter Teekenkonst (1701), based on geometry and Groot Schilderboek (1707), were highly influential on 18th-century painters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hercules Seghers</span> Dutch painter and engraver (c.1589 – c.1638)

Hercules Pieterszoon Seghers or Segers was a Dutch painter and printmaker of the Dutch Golden Age. He has been called "the most inspired, experimental and original landscapist" of his period and an even more innovative printmaker.

<i>The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis</i> Painting by Rembrandt

The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis is an oil painting by the Dutch painter Rembrandt, c. 1661–62, which was originally the largest he ever painted, at about five by five metres in the shape of a lunette. The painting was commissioned by the Amsterdam city council for the Town Hall. After the work had been in place briefly, it was returned to Rembrandt, who may have never been paid. Rembrandt drastically cut down the painting to a quarter of the original size to be sold. It is the last secular history painting he finished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerard Seghers</span> Flemish painter

Gerard Seghers was a Flemish painter, art collector, and art dealer. After a period of study and residence in Italy, he returned to Flanders where he became one of the leading representatives of the Flemish Caravaggisti movement. In his later career he abandoned the Caravaggist style and genre motifs to become an important painter of large altarpieces for local churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denial of Peter</span> Episode from the Passion of Christ

The Denial of Peter refers to three acts of denial of Jesus by the Apostle Peter as described in all four Gospels of the New Testament.

<i>Serenade</i> (Leyster) 1629 painting by Judith Leyster

The Serenade is a 1629 oil painting by Judith Leyster in the collection of the Rijksmuseum. It was attributed for centuries to Frans Hals until Wilhelm von Bode saw it in the Six collection in 1883. He noticed the prominent "J" in the signature, and attributed it to Jan Hals. This is one of seven paintings first properly attributed to Leyster by Hofstede de Groot ten years later in 1893.

<i>The Sick Child</i> (Metsu) Painting by Gabriël Metsu

The Sick Child or The Sick Girl is an oil on canvas genre painting by the Dutch artist Gabriël Metsu, created c. 1660. It has been held by the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam, since it was bought in 1928, acquired with assistance from the Vereniging Rembrandt at a sale of works from the collection of Oscar Huldschinsky in Berlin.

<i>Christ Presented to the People</i> Etching by Rembrandt

Christ Presented to the People, also known as Ostentatio Christi or Ecce Homo, is a drypoint print by Rembrandt van Rijn which exists in eight states, all c.1655. It is one of the two largest prints made by Rembrandt, about 15 by 18 inches, similar to his 1653 engraving of The Three Crosses. It has been described by Christie's as "at the summit of the western printmaking tradition".

<i>Christ with a Staff</i>

Christ with a Staff or St James the Less is a painting by a follower of Rembrandt, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was also known as Christ in 1854 and exhibited in 1933 as The Pilgrim.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rijksmuseum
  2. British Museum
  3. Henkel, M. D. (April 1934). "The Denial of St. Peter by Rembrandt". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs. 64 (373): 153–155, 158–159. JSTOR   865663.

Bibliography