The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Saint Peter Repentant

Saint Peter Repentant

1645
(French, 1593–1652)
Framed: 140.3 x 119.1 x 7 cm (55 1/4 x 46 7/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 114 x 95 cm (44 7/8 x 37 3/8 in.)

Did You Know?

The rooster next to Peter is a reference to Jesus's prediction that Peter will betray him, stating: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."

Description

During Jesus’s arrest on the night of the Last Supper, the apostle Peter denied knowing him. Although Christ forgave his betrayal, Peter was consumed by guilt. La Tour represents Peter as an old man, reflecting on his past actions in a state of perpetual repentance. The apostle’s red-rimmed eyes and the uncertain light of the lantern suggest anxious sleepless nights; muted colors and simple forms give visual expression to Peter’s somber emotions. Unlike other artists inspired by Caravaggio, La Tour worked in relative isolation in northeastern France, and his connection to his Italian counterpart remains unclear.
  • Possibly Alleyn's College of God's Gift, Dulwich, Surrey, until 1857;
    Reverend William Lucas Chafy, until 1878, by inheritance to his heirs;
    Heirs of Reverend Chafy, Bath, Somerset, until May 1951;
    [Marshall Spink, London];
    [M. Knoedler & Co., New York], sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951.
  • Bloch, Vitale. Georges de La Tour; een beschouwing over zijn werk voorafgegaan door een catalogus van zijn oeuvre. Amsterdam, Netherlands: J.H. de Bussy, 1950. Reproduced: p. 53
    Bloch, Vitale. Georges de La Tour; een beschouwing over zijn werk voorafgegaan door een catalogus van zijn oeuvre. Amsterdam: J.H. de Bussy, 1950. Mentioned: P. 53, no. 18; reproduced: Pl. 18
    Pariset, Francois-Georges. "Le Saint Pierre Repentant de Georges de la Tour." Arts-loisirs no. 304 (1951): 1, 4. Mentioned: P. 1, 4; reproduced: P. 1
    Sterling, Charles. "Observations sur Georges de la Tour à propos d'un Livre Recent." La Revue des Arts I (September 1951): 147-158. Mentioned: P. 154; Reproduced: P. 153, fig. 7
    Francis, Henry S. "The Retentant St. Peter by Georges de La Tour." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art XXXIX, no. 7 (September, 1952): 174-177. Reproduced: p. 170
    "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums." The Art Quarterly (Winter 1952): 344-346. Reproduced: P. 344
    Pariset, François-Georges. "Mise Au Point - Provisoire - Sur Georges De La Tour." Cahiers De Bordeaux / Journées Internationales D'etudes D'art 2 (1955): 79-89. Mentioned: P. 87
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 480 archive.org
    Milliken, William Mathewson. The Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1958. Reproduced: P. 38
    Pariset, François-Georges. "La Servante á la Puce." Le Pays Lorrain 39, no. 3 (1958): 100-108. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 105-106
    Grossmann, F. "A Painting by Georges De La Tour in the Collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm." The Burlington Magazine 100, no. 660 (March 1958): 86-91. Mentioned: P. 90 www.jstor.org
    Myers, Bernard S. Encyclopedia of World Art. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959. Mentioned: Vol. IX, P. 164
    Bougier, Annette Marie. Georges de La Tour, Peintre du Roy. [Paris]: Desclée, De Brouwer, 1963. Mentioned: P. 92-93
    Casa de Velázquez (Madrid). Vélazquez, son temps, son influence Actes du colloque tenu a la Casa de Velázquez les 7, 9 et 10 décembre 1960. Paris: Arts et métiers graphiques, 1963. Mentioned: P. 62; reproduced: Pl. XXXVIII
    Birren, Faber. History of Color in Painting, With New Principles of Color Expression. New York, NY: Reinhold Pub. Corp, 1965. Reproduced: p. 247
    Birren, Faber. History of Color in Painting, With New Principles of Color Expression. New York: Reinhold Pub. Corp, 1965. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 247
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 117 archive.org
    Wrightsman, Charles B., Jayne Wrightsman, F. J. B. Watson, Carl Christian Dauterman, and Everett Fahy. The Wrightsman Collection. [New York]: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1966. Mentioned: Vol. 5, P. 134
    Cavina, Anna Ottani. Georges de La Tour. Milano: Fratelli, Fabbri, 1966. Mentioned: P. 4
    “Fiftieth Anniversary for the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Art in America 54 (March 1966): 20–56. Mentioned: P. 23; reproduced: P. 29
    Alsop, Joseph. "Les Chef-d'Oeuvre de Première Importance du Second Musée des Etats-Unis." Connaissance des Arts 172 (June 1966): 55-63. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 57
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. 1967. Reproduced: no. 155
    Pariset, François-Georges. "L'Ermite à la Lanterne et Georges de La Tour." Cahiers Alsaciens d'Archéologie, d'Art et d'Histoire XI (1967): 241-246. Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 244-246
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 117 archive.org
    Wright, Christopher. "A Suggestion for Etienne De La Tour." The Burlington Magazine 111, no. 794 (May 1969): 295-97. Mentioned: P. 296 www.jstor.org
    Fricke, Berthold, ed. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Hannover: Knorr & Hirth, 1970. Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 46-47
    Szigethi Ágnes. Georges de La Tour. [Budapest]: Corvina, 1971. Reproduced: Fig. 44
    Moussalli, Ulysse. A la recherche de Georges de La Tour. Paris, France: Grenier aux livres, 1972. Reproduced: p. 66, 72; Mentioned: 75-76
    Tanaka, Hidemichi. "Observations sur l'évolution stylistique de Georges de La Tour". In Evolution Générale Et Développements Régionaux En Histoire De L'Art. (1972): 45-50. Mentioned: Vol. II, P. 45-47; Reproduced: Vol. III, Pl. 271, no. 13
    Nicolson, Benedict and Christopher Wright. "Georges de La Tour et la Grande Bretagne." La Revue du Louvre et des Musées de France 22, no. 2 (1972): 135-142. Mentioned: P. 135, 141, n. 1
    Gállego, Julián. "Crónica de Paris: La Tour, Illuminado." Goya 109 (1972): 35-39. Mentioned: P. 37
    Cavini. "La Tour a l'Orangerie e il suo primo tempo Caravaggesco." Paragone: Mensile di Arte Figurativa e Letteratura XXIII, pt. 2, no. 273 (1972): 3-24. Mentioned: P. 20, n. 17
    Georges de La Tour. Paris, France: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1972. Mentioned: pp. 40, 43, 51, 77, 108, 111-112, 188, 190-193, 261, 263.
    Held, Julius S. “Caravaggio and His Followers.” Art in America 60 (March 1972): 40–47. Mentioned: P. 43; reproduced: P. 45
    Blunt, Anthony. "Georges De La Tour at the Orangerie." The Burlington Magazine 114, no. 833 (August 1972): 516-25. Mentioned: P. 520 www.jstor.org
    Dauriac, Jacques Paul. "Zur Wiederentdeckung un Wüdigung von Georges de La Tour." Die Kunst (December 1972): 725-728. Mentioned: P. 727
    Brejon de Lavergnée, Arnauld, and Jean Pierre Cuzin. I Caravaggeschi francesi. Roma, Italy: De Luca, 1973. Reproduced: p. 94
    Rosenberg, Pierre and François Macé de Lépinay. Georges de La Tour, vie et œuvre. Fribourg, Switzerland : Office du livre, 1973. Reproduced: p. 159
    Solesmes, François. Georges de La Tour. (Lausanne, Switzerland: Éditions Clairefontaine, 1973. Reproduced: p. 110, p. 162
    Thuillier, Jacques. Tout l'Oeuvre Peint de Georges de La Tour. Paris: Flammarion, 1973. Mentioned: P. 8, 95, no. 51; reproduced: P. 94, Pl. XL, XLVII
    Gállego, Julian. "Actualidad de Georges de La Tour." Goya 112 (1973): 200-207. Mentioned: P. 206
    Held, Julius S. “Emergence of Georges de La Tour.” Art in America 61 (April 1973): 82–87. Reproduced: P. 86
    Nicolson, Benedict, and Christopher Wright. Georges De La Tour. London, United Kingdom: Phaidon Press, 1974. Mentioned: p. 13-15; Reproduced: fig. 96
    Tribout de Morembert, Henri. "Considérations sur Georges de La Tour." Gazette des Beaux-Arts LXXXIII (April 1974): 227-234. Mentioned: P. 227, 230
    Roskill, Mark W. What Is Art History? New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1976. Reproduced: p. 39
    Spear, Richard E. "A New Book on La Tour." The Burlington Magazine 118, no. 877 (April 1976): 233-35. Mentioned: P. 235 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 171 archive.org
    Nicolson, Benedict. The International Caravaggesque Movement: Lists of Pictures by Caravaggio and His Followers Throughout Europe from 1590 to 1650. Oxford, United Kingdom: Phaidon, 1979. Reproduced: p. 65
    Lurie, Ann Tzeutschler. "The Weeping Heraclitus by Hendrick Terbrugghen in the Cleveland Museum of Art." The Burlington Magazine 121, no. 914 (May 1979): 279-87. Mentioned: P. 284, n. 31 www.jstor.org
    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. Mentioned: p. 90-91; Reproduced: p. 91
    Rosenberg, Pierre. France in the Golden Age: Seventeenth-Century French Paintings in American Collections. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982.
    Brigstocke, Hugh. “France in the Golden Age {Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Exhibit}.” Apollo: The International Magazine for Collectors 116 (July 1982): 8–14. Mentioned: P. 8
    Wright, Christopher. The Art of the Forger. New York, NY: Dodd, Mead, 1985. Mentioned: p. 12; Reproduced: p. 29
    Adams, Steven. The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites. Secaucus, NJ: Chartwell Books, 1988. Reproduced: p. 29
    Quignard, Pascal, and Georges du Mesnil de La Tour. Georges de la Tour & Pascal Quignard. Paris, France: Flohic, 1991. Mentioned: p. 55-56; Reproduced: p. 57
    Lacau St. Guily, Agnès, and Georges du Mesnil de La Tour. La Tour, une lumière dans la nuit. Paris, France: Mame, 1992. Reproduced: p. 90
    Thuillier, Jacques. Georges de La Tour. Paris, France: Flammarion, 1992. Reproduced: p. 201
    Daniels, Stephen. Fields of Vision: Landscape Imagery and National Identity in England and the United States. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Polity, 1993. Reproduced: p. 133, fig. 8
    Conisbee, Philip. The Magdalene with the Smoking Flame. Washington, D.C.: Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, 1993. Mentioned: P. 13-14
    Russell, John. London. New York, NY: H.N. Abrams, 1994. Reproduced: p. 46
    Egri, Péter. Érték és képzelet: Shelley, Turner, Field és Chopin. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1994. Reproduced: P. 12, no. 6
    Le Floch, Jean-Claude. La Tour: le clair et l'obscur. Paris, France: Herscher, 1995. Mentioned: p. 58; Reproduced: p. 59
    Le Floch, Jean-Claude. Le signe de contradiction: essai sur Georges de La Tour et son œuvre. Rennes, France: Presses universitaires de Rennes 2, 1995. Reproduced: p. 23, no. 9
    Quignard, Pascal. La Nuit et le Silence: Georges de La Tour. [France]: Flohic Editions, 1995. Reproduced: P. 58
    Conisbee, Philip. National Gallery of Art (U.S.), and Kimbell Art Museum. Georges De La Tour and His World. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1996. Mentioned: p. 112; Reproduced: p. 113, 272
    Duro, Paul. The Academy and the Limits of Painting in Seventeenth-Century France. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
    Cuzin, Jean Pierre, and Dimitri Salmon. Georges de La Tour: histoire d'une redécouverte. Paris, France: Gallimard, 1997. Reproduced: p. 69
    Cuzin, Jean Pierre, Georges du Mesnil de La Tour, and Pierre Rosenberg. Georges de La Tour: Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 3 octobre 1997-26 janvier 1998. Paris, France: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1997. Reproduced: p. 225, 254; Mentioned: p. 224-225
    Choné, Paulette. "Itinéraire d'un Peintre Lorrain." Connaissance des Arts, supp. issue #112 (1997): 30-49. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 38-39
    Blunt, Anthony, and Richard Beresford. Art and Architecture in France, 1500-1700. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999. Reproduced: p. 178, no. 64
    La Tour, Georges du Mesnil de, Pierre Rosenberg, and Bruno Ferté. Georges de la Tour. Paris, France: Gallimard, 1999. Mentioned: p. 104-105
    Armogathe, Jean Robert. La luce del vero: Caravaggio, La Tour, Rembrandt, Zurbarán. Cinisello Balsamo, Milan, Italy: Silvana, 2000. Mentioned: p. 118-119
    Seidel, Max. L'Europa e l'arte italiana. Venezia, Italy: Marsilio, 2000. Reproduced: p. 354; detail, pp. 352, 355, 356
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: p. 38; Mentioned: p. 117
    Chone, Paulette, Jean-Claude Boyer, Richard E. Spear, and Irving Lavin. L'âge d'or du nocturne. Paris, France: Gallimard, 2001. Reproduced: p. 186, fig. 108
    Rosenberg, Pierre, and Jean-Pierre Caillet. La peinture française. Paris, France: Mengès, 2001. Reproduced: p. 292
    Varese, Ranieri. "Bilblioteca." Critica d'Arte 64, no. 12 (December 2001): 11. Reproduced: P. 11
    McClintock, Stuart, and Georges du Mesnil de La Tour. The Iconography and Iconology of Georges De La Tour's Religious Paintings, 1624-1650. Lewiston, NY.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2003. Reproduced: fig. 18
    Takahashi, Akiya, and Jean-Pierre Cuzin. Georges de La Tour: [exposition : 8 mars-29 mai, 2005, Le Musée national d'art occidental, Tokyo. Tokyo, Japan: National Museum of Western Art, 2005. Reproduced: p. 98-99, fig. 22
    Iacono, Margaret. Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. New York. New York: The Frick Collection, 2006. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 56-59
    Cuzin, Jean-Pierre, Dominique Cordellier, Michel Laclotte, and Antoinette Le Normand-Romain. Figures de la réalité caravagesques français, Georges de La Tour, les frères Le Nain. Paris, France: Hazan, 2010. Reproduced: p. 217, fig. 218
    Merlini, Valeria, Daniela Storti, and Dimitri Salmon. Georges De La Tour in Milan: The Adoration of the Shepherds, Christ with Saint Joseph in the Carpenter's Shop. Milan, Italy: Skira, 2011. Reproduced: fig. 53
    Hilaire, Michel, Axel Hémery, and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Corps et ombres: Caravage et le caravagisme européen. Milan, Italy: 5 continents, 2012. Reproduced: p. 459, fig. 7
    Treasures of the Cleveland Museum of Art. London, United Kingdom: Scala Books, 2012. Mentioned: p. 198-199
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 186
    Salmon, Dimitri, and Andrés Ubeda de los Cobos, eds. Georges De La Tour: 1593-1652. Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado, 2016. Reproduced: p.150-151, no. 27
    Cuzin, Jean-Pierre, et. al. Le Saint Joseph Charpentier de Georges de la Tour: Un Don au Louvre de Percy Moore Turner. [Gent]: Snoeck, 2017. Mentioned: p. 213, n. 2505
    Reproduced: p. 32 archive.org
  • Georges de la Tour. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain (organizer) (February 23-June 12, 2016).
    Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Beachwood, OH (March 29-July 8, 2007).
    Masterpieces of European Painting from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Frick Collection, New York, NY (organizer) (November 8, 2006-January 28, 2007).
    Georges de la Tour. National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (March 7-May 29, 2005).
    The Light of Truth. Caravaggio, La Tour, Rembrandt, Zurbarán. Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Accademia Carrara di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy (September 9-December 17, 2000).
    Georges de la Tour (1593-1652). Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, France (October 1, 1997-January 26, 1998).
    Georges de la Tour and His World: Masterpieces in Focus. National Gallery of Art (organizer) (October 6, 1996-January 5, 1997); Kimbell Art Museum (February 1-May 10, 1997).
    Georges de La Tour. Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France (organizer) (May 10-September 25, 1972).
    Caravaggio and His Followers. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio (October 29, 1971-January 2, 1972).
    In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958).
  • {{cite web|title=Saint Peter Repentant|url=false|author=Georges de La Tour|year=1645|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1951.454