Collection: St. Peter

ARTIST: Museum Religious Art Classics

ARTWORK NARRATIVE:

Artist: Peter Paul Rubens – c. 1616 – 1618

Saint Peter, portrayed here in half-length as a slightly balding, full-bearded patriarch, stands grasping the keys of heaven. With his deep-set eyes gazing upward to the spiritual realm, he projects the commanding authority of the apostle whom Jesus identified as the rock upon which he would build his Church and the man to whom he would entrust with the kingdom of heaven. Draped in an ocher-colored robe, his body feels strong and powerful, a reminder of his life as fisherman before joining Jesus's disciples.

His feast day is June 29.