Penitent Saint Peter

1628/32

Jusepe de Ribera (Spanish, 1588–1652)

Emerging from darkness into a blaze of light falling from heaven, Saint Peter’s enraptured upward expression and gesture here suggest a moment of spiritual dialogue as he grapples with his bitter remorse for having denied that he is a follower of Christ.

Jusepe de Ribera was born near Valencia, Spain, but worked in Italy, in Rome from about 1612 until 1613, when the influence of the painter Caravaggio was at its height, then in Naples from 1616. In Naples, which was then under Spanish rule, he enjoyed the patronage of successive Spanish viceroys, producing altarpieces and paintings of classical subjects and expressive single figures like the one seen here, so lifelike in their conception that they appear to be portraits of their historical or religious subjects.

Status: On View, Gallery 211
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Jusepe de Ribera
Title: Penitent Saint Peter
Place: Spain (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1628–1632
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Inscribed: Jusepe de Rib / espanol F
Dimensions: 126.5 × 97 cm (49 3/4 × 38 1/4 in.); Framed: 150.2 × 121.3 × 7 cm (59 1/8 × 47 3/4 × 2 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Mrs. Goldabelle Macomb Finn Fund, with additional support from friends of the European Painting Department, Mrs. James W. Alsdorf, Mrs. Edward McCormick Blair, Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Gidwitz, Josephine and John J. Louis, Jr., the Otto L. and Hazel T. Rhoades Fund and Mrs. George B. Young; L.L. A.S. Coburn Endowment
Reference Number: 1993.60
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/120172/manifest.json

William B. Jordan, review of Jusepe de Ribera, 1591–1652, in Burlington Magazine, 134 (1992), p. 625.
Paul Jeromack, “Panorama del collezionismo pubblico nell’America del Nord, 1990–1995,” Pittura italiana antica: artisti e opere del Seicento e del Settecento, Milan, 1995, p. 58.
Victor I. Stoichita, Visionary Experience in the Golden Age of Spanish Art, London, 1995, pp. 155 (ill.), 170-71.
Ferdinando Bologna, “Per Giovanni Ricca; con qualche aggiunta a Enrico Fiammingo, al Monrealese e a Gian Giacomo Manecchia,” Scritti in memoria di Raffaello Causa, Naples, 1996, pp. 15, 36 n. 32.
Nicola Spinosa, Ribera, Naples, 2003, pp. 107, 238 n. 77, 272, no. A67 (ill.).
Martha Wolff, “Saint Peter Penitent,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 30, 1, 2004, pp. 58-59 (color ills.).
Nicola Spinosa, Ribera, Naples, 2006 (revised from 2003 1st ed.), pp. 107, 238, 292, no. A80 (ill.)

Naples, Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Jusepe de Ribera, 1591–1652, February 27-May 17, 1992, no. 30.
Madrid, Museo del Prado, Jusepe de Ribera, 1591–1652, July 2-August 16, 1992, no. 27.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jusepe de Ribera, 1591–1652, September 18-November 29, 1992, no. 21.

Sir Stephenson Clarke, Northumberland (d. 1891; recorded in 1891 inventory); by descent to heirs of Robert Clarke; bought by Matthiesen, London; sold to the Art Institute, 1992.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.