Bartolomeo Manfredi (1582-1622), Italian
The Denial of Saint Peter
Oil on canvas

The religious recollection of a saint’s turn from truth is the subject of Bartolomeo Manfredi’s oil on canvas, The Denial of Saint Peter. Overlapped horizontally in a frieze-like arrangement, six illuminated figures project from the shadows as if in relief, retelling the biblical narrative from a 17th century point of view. The organization of the plastic means using the relationships of light and dark patterns, contrasting compositional movements, strategically placed units of rich color, and an active swirl, express the artist’s intent of dramatic tension that exists between the fine line of closeness and separation occurring at a decisive moment when one man departs from integrity.

The drama of contrasts is expressed in a crowded space that integrates spatial context and chiaroscuro. Using a screen of deep shadow rising up from behind the figures, Manfredi pushes all of his units forward to initially compress the shallow space. A compositional twist gives the right side of the picture more visual importance by pulling it closer to the foreground to establish a sense of nearness, while the left side recedes indicating a disconnect. Furthermore, the depth of the picture is developed by a step-riser formation consisting of the table unit in the foreground that comes up with immediacy, from a narrow band of shadow. It pushes back from the right, on an illuminated oblique angle to open up the limited middle ground, lifting once more against the lowest gambler, whose position stops the recession. The table’s angle of recession is offset by the flood of Venetian light that theatrically comes in from the left. The illumination distinguishes the faces from the areas of shadow, and creates the understated diagonals that split the scene into a thrust and counterthrust of directional tension. Manfredi’s articulation of the Venetian glow, that is structural and underlying, softens the faces of the players, on the left, with a relaxed disinterest. The illumination, influenced by Carravaggio, is less integrated, however, in the soldier’s face. The thick dry ivory paint of his flesh, in contrast to the players, has a dragged on appearance that achieves a harsh effect, contributing to his startled awareness.

Manfredi’s shadows are more consistently utilized than his light, but his chiaroscuro never reaches the suffused mastery of Rembrandt’s forthcoming work. Nevertheless, his units of shadow present a sense of density and weight that contribute to the overall development of drama in the scene. The units of shadow reach around to envelop and model the contours of the volumetric figures, softening and integrating the artist’s line into color, similar to the methods of Titian. Smoothly, a steady rhythm of closely changing intervals of light and dark, initiated from the fur hat in the upper left side of the picture roll, like the dice, towards each other in the units of gamblers. These rolling repetitions of light and dark, on the left side of the bilateral composition, having three figures on either side, serve as a foil for the friction and instability that occurs at the pivotal point that turns on the soldier’s right arm, center canvas. Above this arm, a tilted diamond area of background shadow, with concave sides, sets in motion the alternative movement that expresses separation. This diamond shadow motif, that spreads the figures on the right apart like a fan, repeats in the areas between the soldier’s left shoulder and the saint’s crossed hands, and between the saint’s hands, chin, and woman’s index finger.

Subtle divisions in the composition are developed by Manfredi to express the mounting drama along with the development of illustrative aspects pertaining to the subject of the saint’s divided conscience. The figures are positioned in a trio of interrelated planes. The two close knit figures on the extreme left are established on an oblique angle by the position of the player’s closed hand and elbow and the alignment of their shoulders. In contrast, the soldier, woman and saint, on the right, are situated on an opposing plane set up by the placement of the soldier’s angled hands, the lift of the bottom of the saint’s robe on the extreme right, and the woman’s inferred tilt of shoulders. The perpendicular drop of the left side of Peter’s robe, and his shoulders in opposition to the woman’s, disrupts the movement of this plane, contributing to the idea of conflict. Each grouping, however, is clearly divided by the dicer, in the middle ground, who is placed on a horizontal plane that parallels the edge of the table. The position of this plane serves to turn the direction of activity in the picture from one side to the other, as the soldier confronts the saint.

Manfredi adapts the Veronese tradition of organizing the focus of an active scene in a “V” composition, as in Jesus and the Centurion. Manfredi eliminates the unnecessary cast of characters included by Veronese that would distract from the intent of dramatic tension in The Denial of Saint Peter. His interpretation of the “V” sets aside the long view of Veronese in exchange for the intensity that comes by placing the viewer up close as participant at the table’s edge. Manfredi’s “V” is indicated by the downward slant that runs along the top of Peter’s head and the descending placement of the two player’s heads, on the left, that converge on the soldier’s right hand. The soldier’s armored vest additionally aids in the expression of tension as it divides; in this case by light and line. From a nesting of “V” repetitions, white illuminated linear markings infuse pressure into the scene. Like a wedge that splits a log with sudden force these lines push down exploding in opposing directions to create an abrupt change in the soldier’s attention - away from the game and towards the saint. Peter’s head, and opposite sides of his robe, in a variation of division, detach from one another, as well, by a band of shadow that cuts from the foreground up, through his neck and shoulder, contributing to the expression of separation.

Titian red, used in the picture’s center intensifies the level of drama happening there and grabs the attention of the eye from the predominance of sedate browns and concealed spaces. The hand that grips the foremost edge of the table reaches down to the immediate foreground initiating visual movement up the red sleeve. As in Tintoretto’s, Woman of Samaria, folds of fabric indicated by the illumination of white dry impasto on the red sleeve are used instrumentally to serve a distinct purpose and express a new meaning. The folds crackle with dynamic energy having the transferred value of lightening bolts that pass through the scene to express a disquieting force. The jittery movements of the folds travel from the foreground up, to the decorative shoulder ties that interrupt the progression. Around the neck and shoulder a series of light and dark curves smooth out and slow down the action, and assist the triangle of shadow that turns the soldier’s head and points, as does the woman’s finger, accusingly, toward the saint. The triangle additionally serves to transition the viewer’s attention from the vivid red of the soldier’s sleeves to the lesser brown tones of the saint, and focuses on the tight coil of tension occurring beneath the captive look of the two figures. Meanwhile, the small red triangular unit of tunic in the farthest player on the left, along with the fur hat, contributes visual weight that maintains the expression of closeness on that side of the composition, and links the distant player to the central action.

In this compressed space, Manfredi tightens Tintoretto’s famous swirl to concentrate the climax of dramatic tension between the soldier and saint’s direct transversal in their line of vision. This activity is surrounded by the illustrative details of the remaining four figures that bring an equivalent of disinterest, as they make no eye contact with each other. In a counter clockwise rotation, bright white twists of fabric at the woman’s wrist, fingers, and headpiece release the composition’s tension. Varying in size from the tightest braid-like unit at her wrist, to the final soft unfurling in the feathers on the red cap, the tension releases a progressive spiral, like the uncoiling of a watch spring, as the soldier who hears the denial reacts. The braid-like twist repeats in the small white tie on the farthest left hand figure. The use of repetition, such as this, is typically used as a unifying tool, yet it lacks effectiveness for that purpose because of the awkwardness of its small size. It weakly supports, instead, the idea of separation by its isolation from the swirl.

Manfredi’s carefully arranged composition using these devices leaves behind a wealth of traditions from which future artists can experiment, learn and develop. Paul Cezanne, for one, will take Manfredi’s illustrative biblical subject and translate it in secular terms to his Card Players and Girl. The contrast of chiaroscuro in The Denial of Saint Peter will be adapted by Cezanne to a contrast of color emphasized by line and a greater suffusion of integrated light. Cezanne will maintain the organization of planes arranged around a tabletop but will pull back from the scene making the viewer an observer rather than a participant as in The Denial. Manfredi’s rhythmically positioned figures that establish spatial progressions up and down and back and forth will be adopted and adapted by Cezanne as he applies his technique of “accordion pleats” to both his figure and still life paintings as in Card Players, Man and Skull, and Gray Jug and Fruit.

Through Bartolomeo Manfredi’s artistry, the illustrative aspects of a familiar and disturbing story are infused with the expressive elements of contrasting light and shadows, select color intensities, and directional movements that turn on a central axis, and are brought close to the viewer by the compressed space. The drama narrative precariously balanced on a critical moment of fear and uncertainty culminates in The Denial of Saint Peter, with a dynamic swirl, when the tension is abruptly released, as the weakness of a man’s convictions separate him from that which he holds closest to his heart.

Analysis by Marie Slovich