Who painted Saint Peter [left panel]?

Saint Peter [left panel] was painted by Nardo di Cione in c. 1360.

Where can I see Saint Peter [left panel]?

Saint Peter [left panel] is held by National Gallery of Art.

What movement is Saint Peter [left panel]?

Saint Peter [left panel] is associated with Byzantine icon painting.

Can I buy a print of Saint Peter [left panel]?

Museum-quality prints of Saint Peter [left panel] are available made-to-order from Artifact World Gallery.

Artwork

Saint Peter [left panel]

Nardo di Cione , 1360

Saint Peter [left panel] is a tempera painting by the Byzantine icon painting artist Nardo di Cione. It dates from 1360 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.

About this work

Saint Peter appears in the traditional manner, holding the keys that mark his role. Nardo di Cione used simple lines and colors for a calm, restrained figure. Painted around 1360, it shows how artists worked in that early period.

Subject & Meaning

The figure occupies the central position of the panel, reflecting the traditional emphasis on apostolic authority in 14th-century Florentine devotional art.

The left panel of the triptych presents Saint Peter, identified as a saint within a religious composition. The figure occupies the central position of the panel, reflecting the traditional emphasis on apostolic authority in 14th-century Florentine devotional art. As a work classified as religious painting, its iconography conveys the theological significance of Peter as a foundational leader of the Church, a meaning reinforced by the panel's material and stylistic placement within the larger narrative of the triptych. The depiction aligns with contemporary understandings of saintly representation, emphasizing spiritual guidance and ecclesiastical power.

Technique & Style

Executed in 1360 by Nardo di Cione, this work is a religious painting created using tempera on a wooden panel support. As the left panel of a larger composition, it depicts the figure of Saint Peter. The application of tempera on panel represents the standard technical approach for Florentine religious art of the fourteenth century, allowing for the precise, linear definition characteristic of the period.

The formal qualities align with the devotional genre, focusing on the singular representation of the saint within the constraints of the panel format.

History & Provenance

Created in 1360 by Nardo di Cione, this tempera-on-panel work depicts Saint Peter as the left wing of a triptych. The painting's earliest documented owner was Gustav Adolf Wilhelm von Ingenheim, who likely acquired it in Italy between 1820 and 1840, possibly receiving some works as gifts from the King of Prussia. By 1827, the piece was part of Ingenheim's collection of Italian Old Masters housed in Munich before moving to Schloss Reisewitz in Silesia.

The work entered the commercial art market when it was sold in 1922 to A.S. Drey of Munich, followed by a transfer to Henry Goldman of New York in 1923. In January 1937, Duveen Brothers sold the panel to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, which subsequently gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1939, where it remains part of the Kress Collection.

Overview

This tempera painting on panel, titled Saint Peter [left panel], was created by the artist Nardo di Cione around 1360. It presents a devotional image of Saint Peter, a central figure in Christian tradition. The work offers insight into religious art practices and stylistic conventions prevalent in fourteenth-century Italy, reflecting the period's approach to sacred imagery.

Context

Created in the mid-fourteenth century, this panel exemplifies the artistic production of its time. The period saw a continued emphasis on religious subjects, often rendered with a clear didactic purpose. As a work from approximately 1360, it provides a window into the methods and visual language employed by artists like Nardo di Cione, who worked within established traditions to convey sacred narratives and figures.