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The Denial of Saint Peter
Hendrick Terbrugghen (Dutch, 1588-1629)
c. 1626
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 132.3 × 178 cm (51 5/8 × 69 5/8 in.); Framed: 149.2 × 194.3 × 7 cm (58 3/4 × 76 1/2 × 2 3/4 in.)
- Culture
- Netherlands
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
For this depiction of Peter denying that he is a follower of Jesus (seen under arrest in the background at right), Utrecht artist Hendrick ter Brugghen embraced the strong contrast of light and shadow and emotional urgency popularized by Italian painter Caravaggio. The dancing sparks of the fire illuminate the servant’s condemnatory finger and shroud the fearful saint in shadow, underlining the Dutch taste for naturalistic treatments of lighting in the 17th century.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
