Genoese School, 17th Century

Acquired late 1970s (as Giacomo Cavadone).

Nelson Shanks originally believed the present lot to be the work of Bolognese painter Giacomo Cavadone (1577 - 1660), who trained at the Accademia degli Incamminati founded by the Carracci, after which Shanks named his own school. However, it is more likely by an as-yet unidentified Genoese artist. The subject of the Denial of Saint Peter was popular in seventeenth-century Italian painting as it captures a moment of doubt and a test of faith, and it takes place at night, allowing the artist to heighten the drama of the scene with strong chiaroscuro.