# St Peter [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [SIMONE MARTINI]() - Date: 1301-1350 - Technique: Tempera and gold on panel, 58 x 39 cm ## Commentary St Peter c. 1326 Tempera and gold on panel, 58 x 39 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid As is required by an iconographic tradition without exceptions, St. Peter is represented as an old man holding the two keys, one silver and one gold, with which the prince of the Apostles opens and closes the gate of paradise. The position of the figure and the size of the panel, whose format has not suffered any alterations in the course of time, show that the work was originally part of a set composed by other elements. Apart from the present panel, it included on the left the figure of St Ansano, the protector of the city of Siena, at the centre the Virgin with Child and on the right the figures of St Andrew and of St Luke. The five panels composed a polyptych of a rather unusual shape, with the central panel of the same size as the side panels, and with each element independently framed. The box frames enclosing the various painted panels are in fact original, although their authenticity has often been questioned due perhaps to the restorations they have undergone. Each panel also had the name of the saint represented inscribed on the gilded background, as can still be seen in the St Luke from the Getty Collection; this piece also has the back painted in marble imitation, which may suggest that originally the polyptych was meant to be transported. The polyptych is probably the same for which the painter was paid in 1326: it was executed for the residence of the Capitano del Popolo and only later - after 1405 - was placed on the altar of the sumptuous Cappella dei Signori on the first floor of the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, next to the famous Sala del Mappamondo. In the fifteenth century, in order to complete the altarpiece, <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/s/sano/predel1.html'\)" href="/html/s/sano/predel1.html">Sano di Pietro painted five panels</a> with Stories from the Life of the Virgin, which were placed as a predella below each of the panels by Simone Martini. The altarpiece of the Cappella dei Signori was disassembled in 1686 and substituted by the altarpiece from the Cathedral painted by Sodoma around 1535. ## Related artworks - [Altar of St Louis of Toulouse \(detail\)]() - [Altar of St Louis of Toulouse: predella]() - [Altar of St Louis of Toulouse]() - [Altar of St Louis of Toulouse \(without predella\)]() - [Annunciation and Two Saints \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation and Two Saints \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation and Two Saints \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation and Two Saints]() - [Blessed Agostino Novello Altarpiece \(detail\)]() - [Blessed Agostino Novello Altarpiece \(detail\)]() - [Blessed Agostino Novello Altarpiece \(detail\)]() - [Blessed Agostino Novello Altarpiece \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()