The Crucifixion of Saint Peter

Caravaggio painted this in 1601 for the Cerasi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo, a church at the north gate of Rome. He was twenty-nine, at the peak of his career, and working on the most important commission of his life. The chapel has two Caravaggio paintings on its side walls and an altarpiece by Annibale Carracci between them. Saint Peter, old and naked, is being nailed to a cross upside down. Three men struggle to raise the cross, their faces hidden or turned away. One pushes from the left, one pulls from the right, one digs his feet into the ground. Peter is heavy, and the effort of lifting him shows in every figure. The cross is already partly raised, tilting diagonally across the canvas. Peter's body is foreshortened, his feet pointing toward the viewer, his head down and to the left. Caravaggio used his characteristic chiaroscuro: a dark background, a single source of light from the upper left, and figures that emerge from the darkness. The three executioners are lit from behind, their bodies in shadow, their dirty feet and straining backs visible. Peter is lit from the front, his old body and anguished face clear. The only other light is on the cross itself, the wood grain visible in the raking light. The painting was controversial from the start. Caravaggio's first version was rejected, and this is the second. The first version has disappeared. The contract, signed in September 1600, specified panels of cypress wood ten palms high and eight wide. Caravaggio delivered canvases instead, and the subjects were changed from the original commission. The painting across the chapel shows the Conversion of Saint Paul, also by Caravaggio, and the two works were meant to be seen together: Peter and Paul, the two founders of the Church in Rome, one martyred and one converted. Oil on canvas, 230 by 175 centimeters, roughly 91 by 69 inches. Caravaggio painted with a dark ground, building the figures in thin layers of warm color. The cross is painted with thick, textured strokes that give the wood a physical presence. The executioners' feet are painted with unsparing detail: dirty, calloused, gripping the earth. This print works in a study or hallway, where the dark palette and dramatic subject can be appreciated in low light. The warm flesh tones and dark background suit wood paneling, dim lighting, and traditional interiors. The 18x24 size gives the foreshortened body and the struggling figures enough room to read. The 16x20 framed version also works. The painting is on permanent display in the Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.