The Story
The Denial of Saint Peter by Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi). Gift of Herman and Lila Shickman, and Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1997
Created in 1610 during the Baroque period, this work belongs firmly within the religion & mythology tradition. Caravaggio worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in Oil on canvas, measuring 37 x 49 3/8 in. (94 x 125.4 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Caravaggio builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
