''The Denial of Peter'' is a 1660 painting by Rembrandt, now in the Rijksmuseum in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
. It depicts the
denial of Peter
The Denial of Peter (or Peter's Denial) refers to three acts of denial of Jesus by the Apostle Peter as described in all four Gospels of the New Testament.
All four Canonical Gospels state that during Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples, ...
, an event in the
Passion of Jesus
In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ.
Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...
.
After the
Last Supper
Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...
, Jesus has been
arrested
An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...
Caiaphas
Joseph ben Caiaphas (; c. 14 BC – c. 46 AD), known simply as Caiaphas (; grc-x-koine, Καϊάφας, Kaïáphas ) in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest who, according to the gospels, organized a plot to kill Jesus. He famous ...
apostle Peter
An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...
has gone after Jesus, where a servant woman had recognised him as one of Jesus's followers. Peter in a white robe gestures his denial, as two armed guards observe to the left. In the background, Christ looks over his shoulder as he is led away to
Pilate's court
In the canonical gospels, Pilate's court refers to the trial of Jesus in praetorium before Pontius Pilate, preceded by the Sanhedrin Trial. In the Gospel of Luke, Pilate finds that Jesus, being from Galilee, belonged to Herod Antipas' jurisdi ...
.
The painting measures . It is signed and dated, "Rembrandt 1660".Rijksmuseum /ref>
Rembrandt never made a journey to Italy, as many of his contemporaries did. It is therefore thought that his treatment of themes such as the ''Denial'' derived substantially from prints based on foreign works. In this case there are two engravings, both based on paintings by the Flemish artist
Schelte a Bolswert
Schelte a Bolswert (1586–1659) was a leading Dutch engraver, noted for his works after Rubens and Van Dyck.
Life
He was born in the town of Bolswert, in Friesland, in 1586. Both he and his older brother, Boetius à Bolswert, worked in Amste ...
,British Museum /ref> the second an engraving by Giovanni Antonio de Paoli.
After passing through the hands of several art collectors and dealers in the Netherlands and then France, the painting was sold with 118 other artworks to Catherine II of Russia in 1781. It remained in the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg until it was Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings, sold secretly with other works by the government of the Soviet Union. It was bought by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 1933.
File:The Denial of St. Peter - Gerard Seghers - Google Cultural Institute.jpg, Painting by
codart.nl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denial of Peter, The
Paintings by Rembrandt
Paintings in the collection of the Rijksmuseum
1660 paintings
Paintings depicting Saint Peter
Caiaphas