The Denial of Saint Peter (Caravaggio)

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The Denial of Saint Peter

Caravaggio, c. 1610

Oil on canvas

94 × 125 cm

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New york City

The Denial of Saint Peter is a painting finished around 1610 by the Italian painter Caravaggio. It is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

After the artist's many attempts to intensify the dynamics of a scene from the right, this composition offers a dramatic sequence of figures from the left. On a very dark night with deep shadows and without any indication of artificial light, a soldier wearing a helmet and armor appears from the left. He is turning his face so far round to the maid that it gets swallowed up by the darkness. The maid herself, her face obscured by the soldier's shadow, is peering at the soldier from close quarters. She is pointing a finger on her left hand and a finger on her right hand at St Peter. The soldier is also pointing a finger at him. These three fingers are symbolic of St Peter's three denials of Christ. St Peter is holding both hands against his chest in a gesture of confirmation. For the apostle, Caravaggio has chosen a model who would be ideal for an old satyr or for Socrates. The artist usually introduced heads like this for executioners.

v • d • e Caravaggio List of works 1593-1594 Boy Peeling Fruit (c. 1592)  • Self Portrait as Bacchus (Il Bacchino malato) (c. 1593)  • Boy with a Basket of Fruit • The Fortune Teller (Buona ventura) (c. 1594) • Cardsharps (I bari) (c. 1594) 1595-1599 (the Del Monte paintings) The Musicians (c. 1595)  • Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (c. 1595)  • Saint Francis in Meditation (c. 1595)  • Boy Bitten by a Lizard (c. 1596)  • Apollo the Lute Player (c. 1596)  • The Lute Player (c. 1596)  • Bacchus (c. 1596)  • Penitent Magdalene (c. 1597)  • Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c. 1597)  • Medusa (c. 1597)  • Portrait of a Courtesan (Fillide Melandroni) (c. 1597) • Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto (c. 1597) • The Fortune Teller (c. 1597-98)  • Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c.1598)  • The Sacrifice of Isaac (Princeton version) (c. 1598)  • John the Baptist (c. 1598)  • Martha and Mary Magdalene (c. 1598)  • Portrait of Maffeo Barberini (1598)  • Basket of Fruit (c. 1599)  • Judith Beheading Holofernes (c. 1599)  • David and Goliath (c. 1599)  • Narcissus (c. 1599)  • Boy Bitten by a Lizard (c. 1600) 1600-1606 (Most Famous Painter in Rome) The Calling of Saint Matthew (1599 - 1600)  • The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (1599 - 1600)  • The Conversion of Saint Paul (1600)  • The Crucifixion of Saint Peter (1601)  • The Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus (1601)  • Supper at Emmaus (London) (1601)  • The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew  • Amor Victorious (1602)  • Saint Matthew and the Angel (1602)  • The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (1602)  • John the Baptist (Capitoline) (1602)  • John the Baptist (Pamphilij) (c. 1602)  • The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (c. 1602) • The Taking of Christ (1602)  • Saint Francis in Meditation {Cappuccini) (c. 1603)  • The Entombment (c. 1603)  • The Sacrifice of Isaac (1603)  • Madonna of Loreto (Madonna dei Pellegrini, Pilgrims' Madonna) (c. 1604)  • John the Baptist (Kansas City) (1604)  • John the Baptist (Palazzo Corsini) (1604)  • The Crowning with Thorns (Prato) (1604)  • The Death of the Virgin (1604)  • Christ on the Mount of Olives (1605)  • Ecce Homo (c. 1605)  • Saint Jerome in Meditation (c. 1605)  • Saint Jerome Writing (Borghese) (c. 1605)  • Portrait of Pope Paul V (1605)  • Still Life with Fruit on a Stone Ledge (1605)  • Madonna and Child with St. Anne (Madonna de Palafrenieri, Grooms' Madonna) (1606) 1606-1608 Naples and Malta Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy (1606)  • Saint Francis in Prayer (Cremona) (1606)  • Supper at Emmaus (Milan) (1606)  • The Seven Works of Mercy (1606)  • The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew (1607)  • David with the Head of Goliath (Vienna) (1607)  • Madonna of the Rosary (1607)  • The Crowning with Thorns (Vienna) (1607)  • The Flagellation of Christ (c. 1607)  • Christ at the Column (c. 1607)  • Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (London) (c. 1607)  • Saint Jerome Writing (Valletta) (1607)  • Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page (1607-1608)  • Portrait of Fra Antionio Martelli (1608)  • The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (1608)  • Sleeping Cupid (1608)  • John the Baptist (John the Baptist at the Fountain) (1608) 1608-1610 Sicily and Naples The Annunciation (1608)  • Burial of St. Lucy (1608)  • The Raising of Lazarus (1609)  • Adoration of the Shepherds (1609)  • Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence (1609)  • Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (Madrid) (1609)  • Denial of Saint Peter (1610)  • John the Baptist (Borghese) (1610)  • The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (1610)  • David with the Head of Goliath (1610) Works attributed to Caravaggio Still Life with Flowers and Fruit  • John the Baptist (Reclining) (1610)  • The Tooth Puller (1607 - 1609)  • John the Baptist (Basel)  • Boy Peeling a Fruit (c. 1593)  • Holy Family with St. John the Baptist  • Cardsharps (pre-1594)