St Peter

Saint Peter—Jesus’s disciple and the first pope in Rome—turns his grave face to look straight at us. His grim gaze seems to admonish us to think about our deeds and live a Christian life. The key is Peter’s customary symbol. In the seventeenth century, Saint Peter was an important symbol for the papacy and the Catholic Church, but he is a relatively unusual motif for Rembrandt. The directness with which the figure meets the viewer is, however, very characteristic. The chiaroscuro—where the face, hand, and key dramatically emerge from the dark—is also typical of the artist’s work.