Updated 02 February 2024
Currently not on display
Currently not on display
The Liberation of St. Peter
| Materials and Techniques | oil on canvas |
|---|---|
| Size（cm） | 137.5 x 172 |
| Credit Line | Purchased |
| Standard ref. | Nicolson A48; Slatkes/Franits TW5 |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1980-0001 |
The subject was taken from the Book of Acts and relates the miraculous liberation of St. Peter from prison. This work depicting the saint visited by an angel while two soldiers are sleeping in the background was first published as a work of the Dutch Caravaggist painter Terbrugghen. While it examplifies this stylistic trend with its strong contrasts between light and shadow, recently some scholars have rejected the attribution to Terbrugghen, assigning this work to an anonymous painter well acquainted with Terbrugghen's style. (Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)
Provenance
Discovered in 1946 by the former owner, a private collector in Montrouge in an antique shop at Honfleur; Madam Wanda Bouleau-Rabaud Collection, Montrouge; Heim Gallery, Paris, 1975; M. J. Brunschwig, Geneva; Heim Gallery, Paris; Purchased by the NMWA, 1980.
Exhibition History
- 1952
- Caravaggio en de Nederlanden, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 0 1952 - 0 1952, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerpen, pp. 55-56, no. 90, repr.
Bibliography
- 1952
- Gerson, Horst. Die Ausstellung Caravaggio und die Niederlande. Kunstchronik. Nov. 1952, p. 288.
- 1956
- Judson, Jay R. Gerrit van Honthorst: A Discussion of His Position in Dutch Art. The Hague, 1956, p. 91, note 2.
- 1956
- Nicolson, Benedict. The Rijksmuseum 'incredulity' and Terbrugghen's chronology. The Burlington Magazine. vol. 98, no. 637, Apr. 1956, p. 109, footnote 39.
- 1958
- Nicolson, Benedict. Hendrick Terbrugghen. London, L. Humphries, 1958, pp. 78-79, no. A48, pl. 41C.
- 1962
- Slatkes, Leonard J. Dirck van Baburen: A Dutch Painter in Utrecht and Rome. Utrecht, 1962, p. 157, no. E15.
- 1979
- Nicolson, Benedict. The International Caravaggesque Movement: Lists of Pictures by Caravaggio and His Followers throughout Europe from 1590 to 1650. Oxford, Phaidon, 1979, p. 99, pl. 132.
- 1980
- Maekawa, Seiro. The Liberation of St. Peter. The Japan-Netherlands Institute Newsletter. Tokyo, no. 4, 1980, pp. 2-3, repr.
- 1980
- Jong, E. de. De Slapende Mars van Hendrick ter Brugghen. Utrecht, 1980, pp. 6-8.
- 1982
- Gazette des Beaux-Arts. ser. 6, tome 99, March 1982, "Chronique des Arts", p. 72, no. 382, repr.
- 1982
- Annual Bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 15 (1980), 1982, Mayekawa, Seiro. On the New Acquisitions 1980. pp. 6-7, Catalogue of the New Acquisitions 1980. p. 16, repr.
- 1983
- Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1983 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 21, repr.
- 1986
- De Rembrandt á Vermeer: Les peintres hollandais au Mauritshuis de La Haye (exh. cat.). Broos, Ben, ed. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 19 February- 30 June 1986. La Haye, Edition de la Fondation Johan Maurits van Nassau, 1986, pp. 168-169, repr.
- 1986
- Nieuw Licht op de Gouden Eeuw: Hendrick ter Brugghen en zijn Tijdgenoten (exh. cat.). Utrecht/Brunswick, 1986-1987, pp. 137, 164ff.
- 1988
- Kobayashi-Sato, Yoriko. "The attribution of the Tokyo liberation of St. Peter to Ter Brugghen: A reconsideration." Hendrick ter Brugghen und die Nachfolger Caravaggios in Holland. Klessmann, Rüdiger, ed. Braunsweig, 1988, pp. 102-109, fig. 128.
- 1988
- Dupark, J. Frederik. Albert Blankert, Leonard J. Slatkes et al., Nieuw licht op de gouden eeuw: Hendrick ter Brugghen en zijn tijdgenoten (exh. review). Simiolus. vol. 18, no. 3, 1988, p. 176.
- 1989
- Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1989 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 24, repr.
- 1989
- Kobayashi-Sato, Yoriko. Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Paintings in Japan I. Annual Report Bridgestone Museum of Art & Ishibashi Museum of Art. no. 37 (1988), 1989, pp. 39-40, no. 6, repr.
- 1990
- Catalogue of painting acquisitions: 1979-1989. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1990, pp. 68-70, repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 31, col. repr.
- 2018
- Kofuku, Akira. Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Paintings, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. [Tokyo], The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; The Western Art Foundation, 2018, pp. 100-103, no. 28, col. repr.