Saint Peter Repentant (1645): Art, History and Details

Saint Peter Repentant (1645) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Georges de La Tour (French, 1593–1652).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

During Jesus’s arrest on the night of the Last Supper, the apostle Peter denied knowing him. Although Christ forgave his betrayal, Peter was consumed by guilt. Georges de La Tour represents Peter as an old man, reflecting on his past actions in a state of perpetual repentance. The apostle’s red-rimmed eyes and the uncertain light of the lantern suggest anxious sleepless nights; muted colors and simple forms give visual expression to Peter’s somber emotions. Unlike other artists inspired by Caravaggio, La Tour worked in relative isolation in northeastern France, and his connection to his Italian counterpart remains unclear.

Object facts

• Title: Saint Peter Repentant
• Date: 1645
• Creator attribution: Georges de La Tour (French, 1593–1652)
• Culture: France
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 140.3 x 119.1 x 7 cm (55 1/4 x 46 7/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 114 x 95 cm (44 7/8 x 37 3/8 in.)
• Collection: P - French 17th Century
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1951.454

A detail from the museum

The rooster next to Peter is a reference to Jesus's prediction that Peter will betray him, stating: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."

Collection credit

Gift of the Hanna Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Wright, Christopher. The Masters of Candlelight: An Anthology of Great Masters Including Georges de La Tour, Godfried Schalcken, Joseph Wright of Derby. Landshut: Arvos Verlag, 1995.
• Cleveland Museum of Art. Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland], 1945.
• Bloch, Vitale. Georges de La Tour; een beschouwing over zijn werk voorafgegaan door een catalogus van zijn oeuvre. Amsterdam, Netherlands: J.H. de Bussy, 1950.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.