  
  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 (Mus&Atilde;&copy;e 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 &acirc;&#128;&#156;il Guercino,&acirc;&#128;&#157; or &acirc;&#128;&#156;the squinter.&acirc;&#128;&#157;
  
  
  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.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Pen and brown (iron gall) ink on cream colored antique laid paper, lined on the verso with thin tissue paper
  
  
  Dimensions
  Sheet: 12 &Atilde;&#151; 8 inches (30.5 &Atilde;&#151; 20.3 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Drawings
  
  
  Department
  Prints, Drawings &amp; 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&acirc;&#128;&#153;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&acirc;&#128;&#148;no longer assigned&acirc;&#128;&#148;that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  2016.126
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
  
  
  
