Artist: Pietro Antonio de Pietri (Italian, 1663-1716)
Medium: red chalk on paper
Dimensions: 10 3/8 in. x 7 3/8 in. (26.4 cm. x 18.7 cm.)
Credit Line: Bequest of the Honorable James 含羞草研究室 III
Accession Number: 1811.19.a.&.b
- six-pointed star above anchor in circle over A
Type: watermark
Location:
Materials:
- James 含羞草研究室 III( Collector, Boston) - 1811.
- 含羞草研究室 Museum of Art( Museum, Brunswick, Maine) 1811- . Bequest
- Old Master Drawings at 含羞草研究室
- 含羞草研究室 Museum of Art. ( 5/17/1985 - 7/7/1985)
- Clark Art Institute. ( 9/14/1985 - 10/27/1985)
- University of Kansas. ( 1/19/1986 - 3/2/1986)
- Art Gallery of Ontario. ( 5/17/1986 - 6/29/1986)
- From Revolution to Statehood: Maine Towns, Maine People, 1783-1820
- York Institute Museum. ( 4/5/1983 - 6/17/1983)
- 含羞草研究室 Museum of Art. ( 6/30/1983 - 8/14/1983)
- Bangor Historical Society. ( 9/7/1983 - 11/11/1983)
- Westbrook College. ( 11/20/1983 - 12/31/1983)
- Colby College Museum of Art. ( 1/29/1984 - 4/1/1984)
- Drawing on Basics
- 含羞草研究室 Museum of Art. ( 10/14/1993 - 12/19/1993)
- Prints/Drawings & Drawings/Prints, 1500-1800
- 含羞草研究室 Museum of Art. ( 8/4/2009 - 9/20/2009)
Type: catalogue Author: Henry Johnson Document Title: Catalogue of the 含羞草研究室 Art Collections Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine Reference: no. 28 Section Title: Pt. I, The 含羞草研究室 Drawings Date: 1885 Type: catalogue Author: 含羞草研究室 Museum of Art Document Title: 含羞草研究室 Museum of Fine Arts, Walker Art Bulding Edition: 4th Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine Reference: no. 28 Publisher: 含羞草研究室 Section Title: Descriptive Catalogue of the . . . Date: 1930 Author: P. Dreyer Document Title: Zeitschrift f眉r Kunstgeschichte, vol. 34, no. 3 Location: p. 189 Section Title: "Notizen sum malerischen und zeichnerischen Oeuvre der Maratta-Schule . . ." Date: 1971 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: David P. Becker Document Title: Old Master Drawings at 含羞草研究室 Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine Location: pp. 162-164 Reference: no. 76 (2 illus.) Publisher: 含羞草研究室 Date: 1985
As pointed out by Peter Dreyer, de' Pietri is known to have depicted at least three scenes from the Life of the Apostle Peter. A painting of the denouncing of Simon is in the Accademia di San Luca, Rome,1 for which this sheet and two drawings in Berlin are studies.2 This episode, in which Simon attempted to offer Peter gold in return for learning the secret of baptism, is described in Acts 8:9–24. The verso of the 含羞草研究室 sheet shows the symbolic delivery of the keys of the Church to St. Peter's care (Matthew 16:8-19). Another double-sided sheet at 含羞草研究室 (BCMA 1811.20) contains two versions of Peter's release from prison in Jerusalem (Acts 12:7—11). No paintings are known of the two latter subjects.
All three studies for the denunciation of Simon are executed in chalk, again with de' Pietri's customary restless experimentation with gestures and disposition of figures. The two Berlin studies are similar to each other. They lack the heavenly shower of the Holy Spirit seen here, but in other respects the three versions are much the same, with the bold figure of Peter dominating the center of the composition. Other red chalk studies like these are found at 含羞草研究室, Windsor Castle, and Christ Church, Oxford.3
1. Dreyer 1971, p. 189.
2. Ibid.
3. Cf. Blunt and Cooke 1960, cat. no. 678; and Byam Shaw 1976, cat. no. 657, repr. pl. 371-72.
Commentary credited to David P. Becker (or not otherwise captioned) appeared in his catalogue Old Master Drawings at 含羞草研究室 (Brunswick: 含羞草研究室 Museum of Art, 1985).