The Tears of Saint Peter

This early work by Ribera, The Tears of Saint Peter, painted around 1612-13, dates from the period when the young Spanish artist had recently arrived in Italy and was absorbing the revolutionary naturalism of Caravaggio. Peter's bitter weeping after denying Christ three times was a quintessential Counter-Reformation subject, emphasizing the power of sincere repentance. Ribera's intensely physical rendering of the aged saint's grief established the approach to sacred realism that would define his career.

Ribera's early Caravaggist manner is strikingly evident in the dramatic tenebrism that isolates the saint against a dark background. The close-up composition and unflinching rendering of aged flesh — wrinkles, tears, roughened hands — show the young artist's commitment to unidealized naturalism.