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The Denial of Saint Peter
The Denial of Saint Peter

The Denial of Saint Peter

Artist Gerard Seghers Flemish, 1591–1651
Datecirca 1620–1625
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions68 × 89 1/2 in. (172.7 × 227.3 cm)
Frame: 77 7/8 × 105 1/2 × 7 in. (197.8 × 268 × 17.8 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina
Object number52.9.112
DescriptionA large, horizontal canvas with multiple figures gathered around a table. Two candles are blocked by figures, creating dramatic contrast between light and shadow.
On View
On view
ProvenanceCreated Flanders [present day Belgium], ca. 1620–1625. Andreas Colyns de Nole (1598–1638), Antwerp, before 1638. Deyne Collection, Ghent, Flanders [present day Belgium], by 1753. Phillipe Louis Parizeau (1740–1801), Paris; [his sale, Alexandre-Joseph Paillet, Paris, March 26, 1789, no. 104, as Seghers]; Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun (1748–1813), Paris; [his sale, Paris, April 20, 1791, no. 87, as Seghers, bought in] [1]. Nicolas Lerouge, Paris, before 1799; [his sale, Lebrun and Boileau, Paris, January 11, 1799, no. 5, as Seghers]; Pierre-Victor Fournier, Paris. Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763–1839), Paris and Rome, by ca. 1810 [2]; [his sale, Palazzo Ricci, Rome, March 17, 1845, no. 217, as Seghers] [3]. [Alessandro Aducci, Rome, by 1856] [4]. [French & Co., New York, by 1934]; sold to NCMA, 1952.

[1] Annotated version of the catalogue in the INHA (Institut national d’histoire de l’art) notes that the work did not sell (non vendu).
[2] 1839 inventory cat. no. 1027, and 1841 inventory cat. no. 310, both times as by Honthorst.
[3] The Fesch collection was sold in multiple auctions following the Cardinal’s death in 1839. This work appears in the second sale, in March 1845.
[4] Based on a letter in the museum file, dated October 5, 1976, written by Benedict Nicolson, who references Aducci's attempt to sell the painting to the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin in 1856.
Published ReferencesJ.J. B. Descamps, La vie des peintres flamands...1 (Paris: 1753), 388. “Catalogue d’une belle collection de tableaux de trois écoles…composant le cabinet de M. Parizeau, peintre & graveur à Paris” (auction catalogue) (Paris: Alexandre-Joseph Paillet, March 26, 1789), lot 104, as Seghers. “Catalogue d’objets rares et curieux, du plus beau choix, de tableaux des écoles d’Italie, de Flandres, de Hollande, d’Allemagne et de France…formant un assemblage rare provenant du cabinet de M. Le Brun” (auction catalogue) (Paris: April 11 – May 8, 1791), lot 87, as Seghers, (this lot April 20). Jean Baptiste Pierre Lebrun, Galerie des Peintres Flamands, Hollandais et Allemands [etc]. Vol. 1 (Paris: 1792), 31. “Catalogue de tableaux précieux des trois écoles…le tout provenant du cabinet & fonds de marchandises du citoyen Le Rouge” (auction catalogue) (Paris: Lebrun and Boileau, January 11-12, 1799), lot 5, as Seghers (sold January 11). The Rev. M[atthew] Pilkington, Dictionary of Painters, Vol. 2 (London: John Crowder, 1805), 512-513. (The 1829 ed. is not in NCMA library). Vincent Camuccini et al. Catalogue des Tableaux Composant la Galerie de Feu Son Eminence Le Cardinal Fesch (Rome: Joseph Salviucci et fils: 1841), cat. no. 310, as Saint Peter at the Praetorium (Saint Pierre au Prétoire) by Honthorst (Gerardo delle Notti). “Galerie de feu S.E. le Cardinal Fesch” (auction catalogue) (Rome: Palazzo Ricci, March 17-18, 1845), lot 217, as Seghers (sold March 17). Anon, Le Cabinet de l'Antiquaire IV (1845), 288. Charles Blanc, Le Trésor de la Curiosité, (from Sales Cat.). II (Paris: Jules Renouard, 1857), 131. Charles Blanc, Histoire des peintres de toute les ecoles: Ecole flamande, "Gérard Seghers," (Paris: 1869), 4, 5, 8, illus. 5. L. Maeterlinck, Quelques peintres identifiés de l'époque de Rubens (Brussels: 1905),11. G. K. Nagler, Künstlerlexikon (Linz: 1911), 208. Rudolph Oldenbourg, Die flämische Malerei des XVII Jahrhunderts (Berlin: 1918), 94. A. Roblot-Delondre, "Gerard Seghers," Gazette des Beaux-Arts 4 (1930), 189-99. Gustav Gluck, Rubens, Van Dyck und ihr Kreis (Vienna: A. Schroll, 1933), 214. Arthur von Schneider, Caravaggio und die Niederländer (Marburg/Lahn: Verlag des Kunstgeschichtlichen Seminars, 1933), 102-104, 106-107 (title of painting in German: Verleugnung Petri). Max Ditmar Henkel, "The Denial of St. Peter by Rembrandt," Burlington Magazine 64 (April 1934), 153-59. François-Georges Pariset, Georges de la Tour (Paris: Henri Laurens, 1948), 283-84, illus. fig. 1, pl. 44, Schelte à Bolswert, after G. Seghers. Caravaggio en de Nederlanden (exhibition catalogue) (Utrecht: Centraal Museum, 1952), cat. no. 114, illus. pl. 78. H. Gerson, "Die Austellung 'Caravaggio und die Niederländer'," Kunstchronik 5, no. 11 (November 1952), 292 (refers to an engraving). D. Roggen and H. Pauwels, "Het Caravaggistisch Oeuvre van Gerard Zegers," Gentsche Bijdragen tot de Kunstgeschiedenis 16 (1955-56), 278-79, illus. 276, fig. 7. W. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 135, illus. (b-w). W. R. Valentiner, "The Rembrandt Exhibitions in Holland," Art Quarterly 19, no. 4 (Winter 1956), 399-400, illus. 401, fig. 5. The Ringling Museums Sarasota, Florida Bulletin 1, no. 1 (February 1960), cat. no. 12, illus. 16 (catalogue by Creighton Gilbert). Phyllis Bober, "A Painting by Georges de la Tour," Art Journal 22 (Fall 1962), 30, 32, illus. 30, fig. 6. J. R. Judson, "Pictorial Sources for Rembrandt's Denial of St. Peter," Oud Holland 79, no. 3 (1964), 145, illus. 149, no. 6. D. Bodart, Les peintres des pays-bas méridionaux et de la principauté de Liège a Rome au XVII éme siecle, Vol. 1 (Brussels: 1970), 68-69. Justus Muller Hofstede, "Abraham Janssens: Zur Problematik des flämischen Caravaggismus," Berlin Staatliche Museen Jahrbuch 13 (1971), 297-981. Richard E. Spear, Caravaggio and His Followers (exhibition catalogue) (Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1971), cat. no. 61, illus. (color). Benedict Nicholson, "Gerard Seghers and the Denial of St. Peter," Burlington Magazine 113, no. 819 (June 1971), 304-309. Benedict Nicholson, "Caravaggesques at Cleveland," Burlington Magazine 114, no. 827 (February 1972), 117. Anne Walter Lowenthal, "Some Paintings by Peter Wtewael," Burlington Magazine 116, no. 857 (August 1974), 465 (note no. 36). Benedict Nicholson, The International Caravaggesque Movement (New York: Phaidon, 1979), 87, 244. Benedict Nicholson, Caravaggism in Europe, 2nd Ed., Vol. 1 (Umberto Allemandi & Co., 1979), 174 as "with collaboration of Seghers." Illus.: fig. 1423, Vol. 3. Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 136. Erik Larsen, Seventeenth Century Flemish Painting (Freren: Luca Verlag, 1985), 252. Dorothea Bieneck, Gerard Seghers 1591-1651: Leben und Werk des Antwerpener Historienmalers, Flämische Maler im Umkreis der Grossen Meister, Band 6 (Lingen: Luca Verlag, 1992), 140-41, illus. (color) cover, illus. 140, fig. A12; related illus. and text 139-46. Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 114. Guy C. Bauman, and Walter A. Liedtke, selected by, Flemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America, Arnout Balis, Carl Van de Velde and Hans Vlieghe, eds. Flandria Extra Muros series (Antwerp: Fonds Mercator, 1992), 234, illus. (color) 235, fig. 73. Arnauld Brejon de Lavergnée, “Le caravagisme en Europe: à propos de la réédition du Nicolson,” Gazette des beaux-arts 6, a. 135, t. 122, n. 1498 (1993), 216, fig. 1423. Svetlana Nikolaevna Vsevolozhskaia and Irina Vladimirovna Linnik, Caravaggio and His Followers in Soviet Museums (London: Alpine Fine Arts Collection; St. Petersburg: Aurora Art Publishers, 1993), illus. (b-w), fig. 169. Nina A. Mallory, La pintura flamenca del siglo XVII (Madrid: Alianza, 1995), 240, cat. no. 212. David Brendan Hopes, "Gerard Seghers: The Denial of St. Peter," in The Store of Joys, Huston Paschal, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1997), 18-19, illus. (color) 18. Dennis Weller, entry for The Denial of St. Peter, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 87, 88-89, illus. (color) 88, detail (color) 89. Dennis P. Weller, et al, Sinners and Saints, Darkness and Light: Caravaggio and His Dutch and Flemish Followers (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), cat. no. 35, illus. (color). Hans Vlieghe, Flemish Art and Architecture: 1585–1700 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998), illus. (color) 78, fig. 93. Anne Delvingt, "Les Répliques dans l'Oeuvre de Gérard Seghers," Annales d'Histoire de l'Art & d'Archaelogie 22 (2000), 93. Anne Delvingt, "Une Série d'Apôtres, le Christ et Saint Paul du Peintre Caravagesque Gérard Seghers Identifiée à Saint-Ghislain," Revue Belge d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art (Extrait) 70 (2001), 159, illus. (b-w) 163. Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, "La peinture de 1580 au milieu de XVIIIth siècle," in L'art flamand et hollandais: Belgique et Pays-Bas, 1520-1914, Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, ed. (Paris: Éditions Citadelles & Mazenod, 2002), briefly discussed 185, illus. (color) fig. 167. Hans Vlieghe, Cyriel Stroo, and Hilde van Gelder, Vlaamse Meesters· Zes Eeuwen Schilderkunst (Leuven and Zwolle: Davidsfonds and Waanders Uitgevers, 2004), illus. (color) 150. Alessandro Zuccari, Caravaggeschi (Milan: Skira, 2010), illus. (color), 660, Vol. 2. Dennis P. Weller, “Seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish Paintings in Raleigh,” Codart (Winter 2009), mentioned and illus. 13. Dennis P. Weller, Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings [Systematic Catalogue of the Collection] (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2009), cat. no. 66, illus. (color) 319. Dennis P. Weller, entry for The Denial of St. Peter, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 190, illus. (color) 191. Maria Cristina Guardata, “Gerard Seghers e l’ambiente gesuitico romano,” in I Caravaggeschi: Percorsi e protagonist, Alessandro Zuccari, ed. (Milan: Skira, 2010), illus. (color) 660, pl. 2. Gerard Seghers, un peintre flamand entre Maniérisme et Caravagisme (Valenciennes: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes, 2011), illus. (color) 39, fig. 11. David Franklin and Sebastian Schütze, Caravaggio & His Followers in Rome (exhibition catalogue) (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2011), cat. no. 22, briefly discussed 199, illus. (color) 201, listed 317. Par Axel Hémery, "Les caravagesques flamands: De la plastique à l'expression" in Dossier de l'art 197 (June 2012), 48, illus. (color), detail (color) 43. J. Patrice Marandel, ed., Caravaggio and His Legacy (exhibition catalogue) (Munich, London, New York: Delmonico/Prestel, 2012), cat. no. 44, illus. (color), also see notes on p. 164. Utrecht, Caravaggio and Europe (exhibition catalogue) (Munich: Hirmer Verlag GmbH, 2018), cat. no. 11, discussed 117–118, illus. (color) 121. Salomon de Lilian, Old Masters (2018), illus. (color) 34, fig. 4. Anne Delvingt, "Le caravagesque flamand Adam de Coster: proposition d’identification et de datations autour de son activité picturale anversoise" in Annales d'Histoire de l'Art & de'Archéologie 41 (2019), illus. (color), 112, fig. 11. David Brendan Hopes, "Gerard Seghers: The Denial of St. Peter" in “You Are the River: Literature Inspired by the North Carolina Museum of Art,” edited by Helena Feder (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2021), illus (color) 90.
Exhibition HistoryUtrecht, Centraal Museum, "Caravaggio en de Nederlanden," 1952; Antwerp, Musée des Beaux Arts, 1952, cat. no. 114, illus. pl. 78. Sarasota, FL, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, "Figures at a Table," February 7-March 6, 1960, cat. no. 12, illus. Cleveland, OH, The Cleveland Museum of Art, "Caravaggio and His Followers," October 27, 1971-January 2, 1972, cat. no. 61, illus. (color). Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Sinners and Saints, Darkness and Light: Caravaggio and His Dutch and Flemish Followers," September 27- December 13, 1998; Milwaukee, WI, Milwaukee Art Museum, January 29-April 18, 1999; Dayton, OH, The Dayton Art Institute, May 8-July 18, 1999, cat. no. 35, illus. (color) 188. Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, "Caravaggio and his Followers in Rome," June 17-September 11, 2011; Fort Worth, TX, Kimbell Art Museum, October 16, 2011-January 8, 2012, cat. no. 22, illus. (color). Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, France, "Le caravagisme nordique," June 22-October 14, 2012; Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, November 11, 2012-February 10, 2013; Hartford, CT, Wadsworth Atheneum, March 8-June 16, 2013, cat. no. 44, illus. (color). Centraal Museum, Utrecht, “Utrecht, Caravaggio and Europe,” December 14, 2018–March 24, 2019; Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, April 23–July 21, 2019, cat. no. 11, color. Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present.
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