The Denial of Saint Peter

The present hitherto unpublished painting is an important new addition to Tournier's oeuvre. Due to the lack of documentation scholars have found it difficult to construct a firm chronology for his work while in Italy from 1619-26, relying on comparisons with documented pictures executed after his return to Toulouse to construct a stylistic progression. This lack of documentation of his work in collections alongside those of his contemporaries in Rome (for instance, Vouet, Valentin, Vignon, and Regnier) and his absence from the records of the academies and societies of the city may, in part, be put down to his isolation as a Protestant among Catholic patrons. The task of attributing his work has been further hampered by the importance to Nicolas Tournier of Bartolommeo Manfredi and Valentin de Boulogne, whose compositions he, and other artists, are known to have copied (for instance the Drinkers in the Musée Tessé, Le Mans, which was once attributed to Manfredi, and the Deposition in the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, formerly attributed to Valentin).

The present work should, however, be seen as an important work from the end of his sojourn in Rome, circa 1624-6 and added to the list of only twenty-six paintings that can be surely given to him (see A. Brejon de Lavergnée Pour Nicolas Tournier sur son Sejour Romain Paragone, no. 287, January 1974, pp. 44-55; and A. Brejon de Lavergnée, in the catalogue of the exhibition Valentin et les Caravagesques Français, Grand Palais, Paris, Feb. 13-April 15, 1974, pp. 106-21). The hypothesis made by Charles Sterling in 1956 in the catalogue of the exhibition Il Seicento Europeo, in which he proposed that Tournier was influenced by Manfredi at the beginning of his stay in Rome, later replacing this influence with that of Valentin, assists in dating the present work. The wholehearted influence of Manfredi is here joined by that of Tournier's slightly younger compatriot, Valentin. The subject matter and composition are presented with vestiges of Valentin's simple, intense, and controlled clarity, replacing the preferred Manfredian vivacity of gesture seen in topics which included soldiers playing cards, and musicians, recalled by Joachim von Sandrart as components of the 'Manfrediana Methodus' in his life of Gerard Seghers of 1638 (J. von Sandrart, Teutsche Akademie der Ball-bild und Mahlerey-Künste, 1675; supplements in the Latin addition of 1683, p. 294).

Comparison to his Dice-players belonging to The National Trust, Attingham Park, Shropshire, in which the standing soldier recalls that in the present work, and to the Eating and Drinking Party, with Luteplayer, in the Musée du Berry, Bourges, (Inv. no. 176), underline the Manfredian influence still evident in the present work. However, while retaining the lateral lighting and strong contrasts of light and shadow, which forceably separate the figures and throw them out from the background, the present work is enhanced by a simplicity not seen in his early years in Rome, and directly influenced by his close appreciation of Valentin and works such as his Musician and Drinkers, Musée du Louvre, Paris (Inv. no. 808) and Christ and the Tribute Money, Château du Versailles, Versailles.

Tournier's Tobit and his Wife taking leave of Tobias, formerly in the Rafael Ramírez collection, Caracas, can, perhaps, also be placed in the period of Valentin's ascending influence alongside the present work, together with the 'Suffer the Little Children to come unto Me ' in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome; the Denial of Saint Peter in the Museo del Prado, Madrid (Inv. no. 2788) - both formerly attributed to Valentin); and The Judgement of Solomon in the Schönborn collection, Schloss Weissenstein, Pommersfelden (Inv. no. 603) which has the same strength of simple gesture.