The Liberation of St Peter
Hendrick van Steenwyck the Younger
1617
This painting depicts an episode from the Acts of the Apostles (12:3–19) when St. Peter, imprisoned by Herod Agrippa in Jerusalem, was miraculously freed by an angel. The tiny figure of St. Peter can just be seen making his escape in the background, eluding the sleeping guards. This story provided Hendrick van Steenwyck with the opportunity to depict complex architectural forms dramatically illuminated by candle and firelight; in this case an imagined prison with a repeating groin-vaulted ceiling. The Liberation of St Peter was Steenwyck’s most popular subject, and the artist made over seventy versions for connoisseurs connected to the court of James I. This picture is dated 1617, the year that Steenwyck arrived in London from the Netherlands. He soon established his reputation and was one of the first artists in Britain to sustain a career making works of art in genres other than portraiture.
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven · Image: Yale Center for British Art, Public domain · Text: Yale Center for British Art, CC0