Saint Peter

This work shows the robust style of painting Rubens developed after 1608, when he returned to Antwerp after nearly a decade of working in Italy. Rubens set up a successful workshop in his home city, where the Counter-Reformation was in full swing. Many of his commissions came from churches whose artworks had been damaged or destroyed during the Protestant iconoclastic riots of the previous century.

Paired with an image of Saint Paul (displayed nearby), Saint Peter is shown in profile, a view evocative of Roman coins. In his hand are the keys to the gates of heaven, glinting against a black background. Despite its austere subject matter, the painting has an exuberant, even irrepressible quality, with loose, rhythmic brushwork inspired by Venetian painting, and flashes of bright color: blue mingled with the white highlights in the hair, and strokes of vivid pink in the flesh.