The Angel appearing to Saint Peter (after Honthorst and Reni)
after Gerrit van Honthorst (Utrecht 1590 – Utrecht 1656)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1630 - 1766
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1499 x 1854 mm (59 x 73 in)
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Shugborough Estate, Staffordshire
NT 1271037
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Angel appearing to Saint Peter, after Gerrit van Honthorst (Utrecht 1590 – Utrecht 1656). The Angel standing with arms outstretched on right of Saint Peter, who is seated in a cloak with hand to head. The figure of Saint Peter is a copy or version of the The Liberation of Saint Peter by Honthorst, painted in Rome, between 1616-20; in the Giustiniani collection, Bologna, 1630s until 1812 and now in Berlin. The angel is a later interpolation in the style of Guido Reni, added before the painting was bought by Thomas Anson from John Dick, Consul at Leghorn (Livorno), in 1765.
Provenance
Possibly Giustiniani collection, Bologna, 1630s (with original); bought by Thomas Anson, MP (1695-1773) from John Dick (later Sir John) (1719 - 1804), Consul at Leghorn (Livorno), for £250, April 1, 1766. Two letters from Dick at Leghorn, 14 October [picture offered] & 6 December 1765 refer to the picture," I am greatly obliged to you for the good opinion you have of my judgement in regard to the Guido. I have not the least doubt of its being an original as it was done for one of Guido's patrons, out of which family I got it.The late King of Poland offered 1000 zechines for it, and when the family effects were divided one of the Brothers took this for 800 zechines."; Shugborough sale, 1842, lot 112 (as by Guido Reni); bought Madarin for Lord Lichfield; by descent until transferred to the National Trust with Shugborough’s park and contents of the state rooms, in part-payment of death-duties to the Treasury, following the death of Thomas, 4th Earl of Lichfield (1883 - 1960)
Credit line
Shugborough, The Anson Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
after Gerrit van Honthorst (Utrecht 1590 – Utrecht 1656), artist previously catalogued as style of Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 – Bologna 1642), artist
References
Nicolson 1975 Benedict Nicolson, 'Caravaggesque Pictures in National Trust Houses', National Trust Year Book, 1975-76, p. 6, fig. 12 Nicolson 1979 Benedict Nicolson, The International Caravaggesque Movement, Oxford, 1979, p. 59