St Peter Preaching

The scene refers to Peter's sermon, as recounted in the Act of the Apostles, which he preaches in Jerusalem after the descent of the Holy Ghost on Pentecost. The fresco actually illustrates the final part of the sermon, when Peter says: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

It was first suggested in 1940 that Masaccio must have had a hand in this fresco. The three bystanders to the left behind St Peter were attributed to Masaccio (their grim expression is truly modern). However, after the restoration, the cleaning has given such a clear vision of the pictorial fabric that we can now attribute the fresco entirely to Masolino, who was working in total autonomy, following an established division of spaces and subjects, in harmony with the corresponding scene of the Baptism paianted by Masaccio, according to a project that had been drawn up by the two artists together.

The fresco is part of the cycle depicting the story of the life of St Peter. This scene refers to Peter's sermon, as recounted in the Acts of Apostles, which he preaches in Jerusalem after the descent of the Holy Ghost on Pentecost. The fresco actually illustrates the final part of the sermon, when Peter says: "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 3 minutes):<BR><A HREF="#" onClick="w=window.open ('/music1/15_cent/dufay_peter_paul.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350');w.opener=this;w.focus();return true"><B>Guillaume Dufay: Aurea luce, hymn for the feast of Sts Peter and Paul</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE>