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Lot Essay
This very rare etching was created around the same time as The Rest on the Flight into Egypt: lightly etched (see lot 28), and is equally delicate, imitating a silver-point drawing. While this manner of etching adds a tenderness and lyrical lightness to the scene of the Holy Family at rest, it imbues the present scene a tragic fragility.
Saint Peter is immediately identifiable by his attribute, the two keys he is holding in his hands. The print shows him just as he has realised that Christ’s prophecy, made before His Captivity, has come true:
Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:69-75)
This is the moment of Peter’s greatest shame and sorrow. Not only does Rembrandt succeed in portraying these emotions through the expression and pose of the figure, but in etching the plate so lightly, he has also found a formal equivalent for the Saint’s weakness.
Saint Peter is immediately identifiable by his attribute, the two keys he is holding in his hands. The print shows him just as he has realised that Christ’s prophecy, made before His Captivity, has come true:
Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:69-75)
This is the moment of Peter’s greatest shame and sorrow. Not only does Rembrandt succeed in portraying these emotions through the expression and pose of the figure, but in etching the plate so lightly, he has also found a formal equivalent for the Saint’s weakness.