The Denial of Saint Peter (Georges de la Tour)

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Georges de La Tour 061.jpg

The Denial of Saint Peter is a 1650 painting of the Denial of Peter by Georges de La Tour, possibly with some assistance from the painter's son Étienne.[1] It was signed and dated by the senior artist. In 1810 it was acquired from François Cacault by the musée d'Arts de Nantes, where it still hangs.[2][3]

The work was commissioned by Henri de La Ferté-Senneterre, governor of Lorraine, where La Tour lived and worked.[4] de La Ferté-Senneterre is recorded as paying 650 francs for a work entitled The Denial of St Peter in 1650, possibly the work now in Nantes. He was then one of the most important collectors of La Tour's work.[5]

The work's approach is very Caravagist, sidelining the work's supposed main subject and placing the soldiers gaming at a table at its centre.[1] In 17th century French society, "gaming was inseparable from luxury"[6] and was evidence of "indifference to salvation" - a similar link is made in the artist's The Card Sharp with the Ace of Diamonds, contemporary with Tristan L'Hermite's The Disgraced Page.[6] The gaming soldiers also refer forwards in time to those casting lots for Jesus' clothing at the foot of the cross.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Thuiliier 1992, p. 228.
  2. ^ "Catalogue entry" (in French)..
  3. ^ "Joconde entry" (in French).
  4. ^ Thuiliier 1992, p. 187.
  5. ^ Thuiliier 1992, p. 188.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Thiollet 1999, p. 79.
  7. ^ Mark 15.24; Matthew 27.35; Luke 23.24; John 19.34

Bibliography (in French)[]

  • Jacques Thuillier, Georges de La Tour, Paris, Flammarion, coll. « Les Grandes monographies », 1992, 318 p. (ISBN 2-08-010074-2).
  • Catherine Thiollet, 'Variations sur la disgrâce dans "Le Page disgracié"', p. 75-83, from Cahiers Tristan L'Hermite, Sur "Le Page disgracié", Paris, Classiques Garnier (no.s II to XXXIV, extracts), 2013, 270 p. (ISBN 978-2-8124-1162-5)
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