Saint Peter

This panel of Saint Peter (c. 1320) by the Master of Citta di Castello at Yale is a work by an anonymous Umbrian painter whose name derives from works in the hilltop town of Citta di Castello in the upper Tiber valley. The Umbrian school occupied a distinctive position between the Florentine and Sienese traditions, and this master's work shows the influence of both Giotto and the local tradition stemming from the Roman painter Pietro Cavallini. Saint Peter, as the first pope and keeper of the keys, was among the most frequently depicted saints in Italian Gothic altarpieces.

Painted in egg tempera with gold leaf on panel, the single figure of Saint Peter displays the Umbrian school's characteristic blend of Florentine volumetric modeling with a somewhat softer, more provincial handling. The apostle holds his traditional attribute of the keys against a tooled gold ground, with careful attention to the rendering of his vestments and patriarchal features.