Saint Peter Weeping with Keys

between early and mid-17th century

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Italian, 1591-1666

Not On View

Saint Peter Weeping with Keys: 1 of Collection Gallery

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About the Artwork

With rapid strokes of pen and ink, Guercino depicted a man holding a handkerchief to his face and weeping. The two large keys on the table identify the figure as Saint Peter. According to the Gospel of Saint Luke in the Christian Bible, Jesus foretold that Peter would deny knowing him three times; here Peter weeps bitterly in repentance after his final denial. In 1647, Guercino painted a similar figure in his Saint Peter Weeping before the Virgin (Musée du Louvre, Paris). However, this drawing appears to be an earlier work, most likely made in the 1630s.
After a childhood accident reportedly damaged one eye, Bolognese painter Giovanni Francesco Barbieri became known as “il Guercino,” or “the squinter.”

Title Saint Peter Weeping with Keys

Artwork Date between early and mid-17th century

Artist Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)

Life Dates 1591-1666

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Italian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Pen and brown (iron gall) ink on cream colored antique laid paper, lined on the verso with thin tissue paper

Dimensions Sheet: 12 × 8 inches (30.5 × 20.3 cm)

Classification Drawings

Department Prints, Drawings & Photographs

Credit Gift of anonymous donor, in memory of Edward B. Caulkins, Jr.

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2016.126

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Provenance

2016-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Lynes, Mildred Akin. "The Drawings of Guercino in the Dan Fellows Platt Collection." M.A. thesis, New York University, Institute of Fine Arts, 1940, no. 87, fig. 19, pp. 62, 98, pl. X (ill.).

Mahon, Denis and Nicholas Turner. The Drawings of Guercino in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle. Cambridge, 1989, p. 172 (ill.).

Bagni, Prisco. Il Guercino e il suo falsario: i disegni di figura. Bologna, 1990, no. 19, p. 40 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), Saint Peter Weeping with Keys, between early and mid-17th century, pen and brown (iron gall) ink on cream colored antique laid paper, lined on the verso with thin tissue paper. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of anonymous donor, in memory of Edward B. Caulkins, Jr., 2016.126.