Museum Art Reproductions The Crucifixion Of Saint Peter by Caravaggio - Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610, Italy) | WahooArt.com

Artworks , Artworks

Artworks , Artworks

Caravaggio - Michelangelo Merisi - Oil
The Crucifixion Of Saint Peter (Italian: Crocifissione di san Pietro
1600) is painted for the Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. The painting depicts the martyrdom of St. Peter by crucifixion—Peter asked that his cross be inverted so as not to imitate his mentor, Christ, hence he is depicted upside-down. The large canvas shows Romans, their faces shielded, struggling to erect the cross of the elderly but muscular St. Peter. Peter is heavier than his aged body would suggest, and his lifting requires the efforts of three men, as if the crime they perpetrate already weighs on them. The two saints, Peter and Paul, together represent the foundations of the Catholic Church, Peter the 'rock' upon which Christ declared his Church to be built (Gospel of Matthew 16:18), and Paul who founded the seat of the church in Rome. Caravaggio's paintings were thus intended to symbolise Rome's (and Cerasi's) devotion to the Princes of the Apostles in this church which dominated the great piazza welcoming pilgrims as they entered the city from the north, representing the great Counter-Reformation themes of conversion and martyrdom and serving as propaganda against the twin threats of backsliding and Protestantism.