The Denial of Peter (c. 1624–28): Art, History and Details

The Denial of Peter (c. 1624–28) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Peter Wtewael (Dutch, 1596–1660).

The work and its context

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

Wtewael depicted the moment after the Last Supper when the apostle Peter (at the left) denied knowing Jesus in order to protect himself from Roman soldiers searching for Christ's followers. Few works by this artist are known, and he draws on an unusual combination of styles. The dramatic use of light derives from Dutch followers of the Italian painter Caravaggio, in vogue around 1625, while the twisting bodies, startlingly low viewpoint, and tight detailing come from a more refined, courtly mode more popular earlier in the century.

Object facts

• Title: The Denial of Peter
• Date: c. 1624–28
• Creator attribution: Peter Wtewael (Dutch, 1596–1660)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on wood
• Dimensions: Framed: 43.8 x 61 x 6.4 cm (17 1/4 x 24 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 28 x 45.5 cm (11 x 17 15/16 in.); Former: 42 x 59.5 x 6.5 cm (16 9/16 x 23 7/16 x 2 9/16 in.)
• Collection: P - Netherlandish-Dutch
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1972.169

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.

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.