The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew

Caravaggio painted The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew around 1606, one of the works from his Neapolitan period following his flight from Rome. The subject — Christ appearing at the lakeside to call the fishermen brothers who would become his first apostles — was a vehicle for the contrast between the humble working world of the fishermen and the sudden irruption of divine call. Caravaggio's treatment, like all his religious work, grounds the miraculous in the physically ordinary: the brothers are working men absorbed in their labor until the unexpected encounter with Christ transforms their lives. The Neapolitan period works show the characteristic late style developing: darker grounds, more austere compositions, the drama concentrated in fewer, more isolated figures.

The three half-length figures emerge from a dark background, with Christ's outstretched hand creating the central dramatic gesture, lit by Caravaggio's characteristic strong directional light.