Artwork of St. Peter the Apostle

Collected by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

The Penitent Apostle Peter, by Anthony Van Dyke
Anthony Van Dyke (Flemish painter,1599-1641) Penitent Apostle Peter (1617-1618), Oil on canvas, Hermitage, St Petersburg, Russia. Larger image.

There are many depictions of St. Peter over the centuries. These are some of my favorites.

St. Peter, from a mosaic icon in naves of the Patriarchal Basilica of  St. Paul: Outside the Wall, The Vatican.

St. Peter the Apostle, St. Catherine's Monastery, Sinai probably from Constantinople mid-6th to early 7th century, encaustic painting on wood, 36.5" x 21". Another.

"St Peter Healing the Sick with his Shadow," by Masaccio (1401-1427?), the first great painter of the Italian Renaissance. This is part of a series in fresco for the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence (about 1427). It depicts an event in Peter's life described in Acts 5:15.

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), "Jesus Washing Peter's Feet" (1508-1509), The Small Passion series, small woodcut, 12.7 x 10 cm., British Museum, London.

"Crucifixion of Peter" (1481-82) by Florentine painter Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), fresco, 230 x 598 cm., Cappella Brancacci, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy.

Michelangelo (1475-1564), detail from "The Last Judgment" (1534-41), fresco altarpiece at one end of the Sistene Chapel, Vatican, Rome. St. Peter is identified by the keys he is carrying, a reference to Matthew 16:19.

"The Crucifixion of St. Peter" (1600-1601) is portrayed by Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573-1610) with dramatic lighting, oil on canvas, 2300mm x 1750mm, Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), "St Peter and St John Healing the Cripple" (1513), engraving, 118 x 74 mm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Gustave Dore, St. Peter Delivered from Prison (Acts 12:7-8)

"St. Peter Freed from Prison," by Florentine painter Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), fresco, 230 x 88 cm, Cappella Brancacci, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence.

"St. Peter Denying Christ," by French book illustrator Paul Gustav Doré (1832-1883), engraving, 200x245 mm.

St. Peter, fresco fragments, Rome, second half of the 13th century, 39 cm high, 27.6 cm wide.

St. Peter with Keys, marble statue in the Antwerp Cathedral.

Rembrandt Hamerszoon van Rijn (1606-1669), Dutch painter

  • The Apostle Peter (1632), oil on canvas, 81.3 x 66.2 cm Nationalmuseum, Stockolm.
  • "St. Peter in Prison" (1631) Oil on panel, 59x47.8 cm, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Peter kneels bathed in light, though his lonliness in prison is accentuated by the surrounding space. Notice his trademark "keys to the kingdom" next to him on the straw.
  • Two Old Men Disputing (St. Peter and St. Paul in Conversation, 1628), oil on wood, 72.4 x 59.7 cm, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, AU. Another.

"Saint Peter" (1605-1615), studio of Peter Paul Rubens, oil on panel, 92 x 67.5 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

"Transfiguration of Christ" (ca. 1441), by Florentine painter and Dominican friar Fra Angelico(ca. 1400-1455), Fresco, 181 x 152 cm, Museo di San Marco, Cell 6, Florence, Italy. Peter seems to be crouching at the bottom left.

"The Denial of St. Peter" (ca. 1525-1530) by Flemish illustrator Simon Bening. Tempera colors and gold on parchment, 6 5/8 x 4 1/2 in., Brandenburg Prayer Book, in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA.

Fra Angelico. Peter Martyr Enjoins Silence. c.1441. Fresco inside a monk's cell, 108 x 145. Museo di San Marco, Florence, Italy.

Gerard (Gerrit) van Honthorst (1590–1656)

Hendrick Terbrugghen, The Denial of St. Peter (c. 1628), oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago

José Ribera (Guiseppe (Jusepe) de Ribera, 1588–1652), (circle of Jose Ribera) The Penitent Saint Peter , oil on canvas, 93 x 70.5 cm, European private collection. Another. A painting on this subject (c.1628-1632) is also on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, but I can't find an image of it online.

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, St. Peter Repentant (1823-25), oil on canvas, 29 x 25.5 cm, Phillips Collection, Washington

Anthony Van Dyke (Flemish painter,1599-1641)

Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787), St. Peter, Basildon Park, National Trust, UK. Also portraits of St. Matthew, St. John, and St. Paul

El Greco

Giotto (1267-1337), St. Peter Tondo (1290s), Basilica of San Francesco, Upper Basilica, Assisi, Italy.

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Copyright of artwork. Much, but not all, of the artwork linked to on this site is in the public domain worldwide due to the date of death of its author (if it is was published outside of the U.S. and the author has been dead for over 70 years), or due to its date of publication (if it was first made public in the U.S. before 1923), at least in the United States (see Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.), in Germany, and in many other countries.

Copyright © 2024, Ralph F. Wilson. <pastor@joyfulheart.com> All rights reserved. A single copy of this article is free. Do not put this on a website. See legal, copyright, and reprint information.

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