The Denial of Saint Peter

The subject of The Denial of Saint Peter appears to have been of particular appeal for the Caravaggists; superlative examples exist from the artist’s direct and indirect followers across Europe, including Gerrit van Honthorst, Bartolomeo Manfredi, Nicolas Tournier, Valentin de Boulogne, Jusepe de Ribera and Gerard Seghers. The present painter follows their examples, employing a tenebristic setting and crowding the canvas with half- or three-quarter-length figures to heighten the theatricality of the narrative, which is transposed into everyday life. Caravaggio’s own rendering of the subject is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

According to the Gospels (Matthew 26:69–75; Mark 14:66–72; Luke 22:55–62; John 18:17–18, 25–27), when Christ was arrested, Saint Peter followed him into the courtyard of the high priest Caiaphas. He was accused by three onlookers of being a disciple of Jesus and, fearing for his safety, denied knowing him three times, fulfilling Christ's earlier prophecy that Peter would deny him thrice before the cock crowed.