The Denial of Peter by Gerard Van Honthorst
This painting illustrates a scene from the Christian Bible. A young maidservant accuses the apostle Peter, in the yellow cloak, of knowing Jesus. Fearing for his own safety, Peter denies the acquaintance.
While working in Italy, the Dutch artist Gerrit van Honthorst earned the nickname Gerard of the Night for his dramatically lit night scenes. Like the Italian artist Caravaggio, whom he admired, Honthorst constructed psychologically intense paintings through the use of strong contrasts of light and shadow, close-ups of large working-class figures, and expressive hand gestures.
Details
- Artist
- Gerard Van Honthorst
- Created
- c. 1620
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimension
- 197cm × 150cm
- Passage
- Mark 14:66-72
- Housed at
- Musée des beaux-arts Palais des ducs et des Etats de Bourgogne, Dijon
Found in: Mark, Mark 14, 17th century, Peter
Mark 14:66-72
66 As Peter was in the courtyard below, one of the maids of the high priest came,
67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him, and said, “You were also with the Nazarene, Jesus!”
68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know, nor understand what you are saying.” He went out on the porch, and the rooster crowed.
69 The maid saw him, and began again to tell those who stood by, “This is one of them.”
70 But he again denied it. After a little while again those who stood by said to Peter, “You truly are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it.”
71 But he began to curse, and to swear, “I don’t know this man of whom you speak!”
72 The rooster crowed the second time. Peter remembered the word, how that Jesus said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” When he thought about that, he wept.
Mark 14:66-72 · World English Bible
The artist
Gerard Van Honthorst
1592 - 1656
Utrecht, Netherland
Gerard van Honthorst (Gerrit van Honthorst) (4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who became especially noted for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickname Gherardo delle Notti ("Gerard of the nights"). Early in his career he visited Rome, where he had great success painting in a style influenced by Caravaggio. Following his return to the Netherlands he became a leading portrait painter. Van Honthorst was born in Utrecht, the son…