Christ gives Peter the keys of Paradise

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Christ gives Peter the keys of Paradise (Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres)
Christ gives Peter the keys of Paradise
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres , 1820
Oil on canvas
280 × 217 cm
Ingres Museum

Christ gives Peter the keys of Paradise is a history painting completed in 1820 by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres . It wasexecuted in oil on a canvas 280 centimeters high and 217 centimeters wide. Jesus is shownhandingthe keys to the kingdom of heaven to Peter kneeling, with Matthew appearing as a witness in the background. Ingres painted the picturefor the Santissima Trinità dei Monti conventafter his fellowship in Rome ,afterwhich he stayed in the city. This fellinto disrepairduring the time of the Kingdom of Italy under Napoleonic rule and was renovated from 1817 onwards, with the grant holders participating in the furnishing. The painting was originally only accessible to a few people, but it met with a largely positive response, while other history paintings by Ingres from this period met with much criticism. The painting is now on display at the Musée Ingres in Montauban .

Image description

In the painting Ingres shows Christ giving Peter the keys of Paradise to Jesus in the presence of some of his disciples . He is by a cross Nimbus in while his followers with simple halos are provided. Jesus as the central figure of the painting is facing the picture and is to the left of the center in the composition. He is shown in a pink and blue robe and determines the composition with the diagonal of his outstretched right arm and the lowered left arm, which continues in the position of Peter, and is thus the pictorial implementation of the promise “as in heaven on earth ". With the outstretched index finger of his left hand, Jesus touches one of the two keys to the kingdom of heaven that he gave to Peter. Jesus gaze is directed towards heaven, whereby Ingres wanted to underline his divine origin. Peter, shown in profile , is kneeling next to him, receiving the keys and looking up at the Son of God.

To the left behind Jesus in a red robe, the evangelist Matthew is depicted, with which Ingres refers to the written tradition of the depicted scene. It combines two events described in Matthew's Gospel in its artistic implementation: On the one hand, the confession of Peter, in which he is the only one of the disciples to answer Jesus' question who he is with "You are Christ, the living Son of God." On the other hand, the handing over of the keys to Peter when Jesus first called him by that name.

In contrast to his early sculptures, the depicted space is deep and wide. In addition, the selected colors cover a broad spectrum and are brighter than previous pictures, and some of them can even be described as bright.

Origin and classification in the complete works of Ingres

In 1817, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres received the commission Christ gives Peter to paint the keys of paradise from the French ambassador in Rome , Pierre-Louis de Blacas . He decided to renovate the Santissima Trinità dei Monti convent, which was preferred by the French in Rome and which had been abandoned during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Kingdom of Italy , and commissioned scholars from the Académie de France for paintings that were to be part of the new interior. The ambassador also pursued the goal of creating a presentation area for the achievements of French painters in the field of religious history painting. In this picture, however, the Catholic restoration is also manifested , which Ingres had already taken up with his picture Sistine Chapel from 1814. The connection between divine power and earthly world had Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres before Christ Peter hands over the keys of paradise on one of his pictures taken while using a very similar composition. In the painting Jupiter and Thetis from 1811, the god Jupiter sits facing the viewer on his throne, while Thetis is shown kneeling and in profile. This relationship of positions thus corresponds exactly to those of Jesus and Peter.

Christ hands Peter the keys of Paradise , which earned Ingres the recognition of the artistic community in Rome. This painting was his first major success with the public since Achilles received the petition of Agamemnon , with whom he had won the Prix ​​de Rome . Ingres subsequently extended the stay in Rome associated with this award in order to escape the harsh criticism he was exposed to in France. In addition to the general recognition, this painting established his reputation as a painter of religious portraits, which France of the Restoration gained in importance again. Ingres then succeeded in gaining critical acclaim, receiving government contracts and becoming one of the most important artists of these years in France.

  • Jupiter and Thetis , 1811

  • The vow of Louis XIII. , 1824, one of the following religious pictures by Ingres

Role models and references

In Christ, Peter hands over the keys of Paradise, there are references to Italian art and to the group of the Nazarenes . The group of German artists such as Peter von Cornelius and Friedrich Overbeck had set themselves the goal of renewing Christian art and came up with design solutions that can also be found in Ingres. Despite the comparable conception of color and line between works by the Nazarenes and the painting by Ingres, no direct reference can be proven. However, it can be assumed that Ingres knew the art of this group, as he mentioned them, among other things, in a letter to a childhood friend, and a highly regarded exhibition of them took place near his apartment in Rome. So there is no evidence, but there is evidence of a reference to the art of this group. The direct example for Christ gives Peter the keys of Paradise from Ingres, Jesus hands Peter the keys of Paradise from Raphael may have been. The position of Jesus and Peter in both works is the same, especially since Ingres viewed Raffael as a model and immortalized him in a painting in 1814.

  • Jesus gives Peter the keys of Paradise from Raphael , 1515/1516

  • Raffael and the Fornarina , 1814

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Matthew 16:19. on bibeltext.com, accessed January 31, 2010
  2. ↑ a b c Karin H. Grimme: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Taschen, Cologne 2007. page 24.
  3. ↑ Matthew 16:16. on bibeltext.com, accessed January 29, 2010.
  4. ^ A b c Andrew Carrington Shelton: Ingres . Phaidon, London 2008. page 76.
  5. ↑ a b c Uwe Fleckner: Master of French Art - Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres . hfullmann, 2007. page 70.
  6. ↑ Andrew Carrington Shelton: Ingres . Phaidon, London 2008. Pages 75 and 76.