The Calling of St Peter and St Andrew

The Calling of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew, painted around 1628, depicts Christ summoning the fishermen brothers to become his disciples. This early work demonstrates Cortona's ability to handle multi-figure religious narratives before he turned increasingly to grand decorative projects. The lakeside setting allowed the artist to combine figure painting with landscape in the manner established by Annibale Carracci and his followers. The extraordinary diversity of Baroque subject matter—sacred and secular, monumental and intimate—reflected the period's expansion of patronage beyond the church to include merchants, princes, and private individuals with their own varied tastes.

The composition balances the intimate human drama of the calling with an expansive landscape setting. Cortona's early style shows the influence of Venetian colorism alongside the Roman classical tradition, with warm light unifying figures and setting.