Caravaggio - The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew 1602-1604
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The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew 1602-1604
140x167cm oil/canvas
Royal Collection Trust, Buckingham Palace, UK
The image is only being used for informational and educational purposes
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From Royal Collection Trust, Buckingham Palace:
Christ gestures ahead while turning back to the brothers Simon (later Peter) and Andrew, who have been fishing by the Sea of Galilee. He says ‘Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men’. The fishermen’s weather-beaten faces and hands eloquently express astonishment, confusion and fear.
The subject of this painting comes from St Mark’s Gospel (1:16-18): Jesus saw Simon (later called Peter) and his brother Andrew fishing by the Sea of Galilee and said, ‘Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men’. A young Christ, unusually shown without a beard, gestures out of the painting in the direction in which he is moving, while turning back to the two brothers. Peter holds two fish skewered on sticks and starts back in surprise; Andrew points to himself incredulously. The composition seems to imply that Christ will walk calmly off to the right, without looking back again, and that the other two figures (after a due period of astonishment and reluctance) will find themselves following.