1532
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
The Death of St. Peter Martyr is a 1532 oil by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, a Mannerism work, depicting Saint Dominic, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
You see a dramatic scene of a saint being murdered by an attacker. The saint looks calm, while the attacker looks brutal. This contrast is interesting because it shows two strong emotions at the same time, which was a new way to depict emotions in art back then. The artist used this contrast to tell a story. Check out the use of chiaroscuro.
Here, Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo depicted the final moments in the life of Saint Peter Martyr, a 13th-century Dominican friar who was murdered by Cathar heretics whom he wished to reconvert to Catholicism. By choosing a three-quarter-length format, Savoldo focused attention on the contrasting emotional states of the serenely resigned saint and his elegantly brutish assailant. Savoldo lived in Venice but had ties to the city of Brescia in nearby Lombardy. He created a darkly poetic style by investing the Lombard artistic tradition of literal realism with the rich textural and atmospheric…
Possibly John Talbot (died 1852), 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, Alton Towers, Staffordshire, by 1835, if the painting is to be identified with the “Death of Peter Martyr” by Pordenone mentioned by Gustav Friedrich Waagen, “Letter XXVIII,” in Works of art and artists in England, vol. 3 (London: J. Murray, 1838), p. 251, recording his visit to Alton Towers in 1835, or the “Peter Martyr” by Titian mentioned by Ebenezer Rhodes, The Derbyshire tourist’s guide and travelling companion… to which is added, the detail of an excursion from Dove-Dale to Ilam Hall, and Alton Towers (London: R. Goombridge,…
“A selection of 2001 museum acquisitions,” Apollo (December 2001), p. 31 (ill.). Holland Cotter, “Art Review: Paying an Informal Call on the Master,” New York Times (May 18, 2001). Holland Cotter, “Art Guide,” New York Times (May 25, 2001), ill. Mina Gregori, “Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo: The Death of St. Peter Martyr,” in Hall and Knight Ltd. MMI (London; New York: Hall and Knight Ltd., 2001), cover (ill.), pp. 71-77, cat. no. 1. David Masello, “Saint and Sinner” from “100 Top Treasures,” in Art and Antiques (November 2002), p. 70 (ill.). “New Acquisition,” Art Institute of Chicago News and…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, also called Girolamo da Brescia (c. 1480–1485 – after 1548), was an Italian High Renaissance painter active mostly in Venice, although he also worked in other cities in northern Italy. He is…
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