17th century Spanish school."Saint Peter".Oil on canvas.Measurements: 62 x 48 cm.The canvas

17th century Spanish school.
"Saint Peter".
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 62 x 48 cm.
The canvas represents the prince of the apostles, Saint Peter, facing the spectator but with his face turned in profile, directing his gaze towards an exterior point of the composition. The saint is easily identifiable thanks to his usual iconographic features: a prominent bald head, grey hair and a short beard. The composition is dominated by earth tones and a strong chiaroscuro, characteristic of the Spanish school of the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as the use of emphatic and monumental forms. As a result, in this canvas we see a colossal Saint Peter, with protruding, pronounced cheekbones. It is a heavy figure, well constructed in terms of volumes, in a twisted posture. Saint Peter (Bethsaida, c. 1 BC - Rome, 67) was, according to the New Testament, a fisherman, known to be one of Jesus' twelve apostles. The Catholic Church identifies him through the apostolic succession as the first Pope, based among other things on Jesus' words to him: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the power of Death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven". St. Peter could be said to have been Jesus' confessor, his closest disciple, the two being united by a very special bond, as narrated in both the canonical and apocryphal Gospels.