Studio of Gerard Seghers

This small and detailed copper of the penitent Saint Peter is a studio repetition of a well-known composition explored by Gerard Seghers in Antwerp in the 1620s. The best known versions by Seghers of this theme are two larger canvases today in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg,¹ and in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Arras.²  A smaller autograph version, also on copper, is today in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin.³

^The present copper is a work of very high quality, preserving the freshness and luminosity of coloring as found in Seghers' own examples. The master's influence is also perceptible in the naturalistic rendering of the carnations and the thick hair on Peter's head and beard. Particularly skillful attention was paid to the lighting effects of the deep shadows, as well as to the details of the saint's attributes, including the rooster, the keys, and the book lying on the ground. 

We are grateful to Dr. Anne Delvingt for her assistance in the cataloguing of the present lot, and whose letter of expertise (2 September 2021) forms the basis of this entry.  

1. Inv. no. 5129, oil on canvas, 148 by 110 cm. See D. Bieneck, Gerard Seghers, Lingen 1992, pp. 180-181, cat. no. A62, reproduced.  

2. Inv. no. 982, oil on canvas, 135 by 107 cm. Bieneck 1992, p. 181, cat. no. A. 63, reproduced. 

3. Oil on copper, 15 by 10 cm. P. Astrua, Galleria Sabauda. Guida breve, Milan 2000, cat. no. 230.