Jan Lievens

Private Collection, Israel, by whom purchased before 1999.

Tel Aviv, Israel, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, on loan from the current owner, through 2010;
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Milwaukee Art Museum; Amsterdam, Rembrandthuis, Jan Lievens:  A Dutch Master Rediscovered, 26 October 2008 - 2 August 2009, no. 5.

A. Wheelock, catalogue entry in, Jan Lievens:  A Dutch Master Rediscovered, exh. cat. Washington; Milwaukee; Amsterdam, New Haven and London 2008, pp. 90-91, no. 5, reproduced. 

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. As is documented in the catalogue, this work has been previously cut into twelve sections and then subsequently re-joined. While the joins are visible in a raking light, the lining is successful and although the filling of the losses could be slightly more accurate, the painting is very presentable as is. Apart from the obvious restorations along the joins to the canvas throughout there are retouches in other places which do not relate to these joins. In the head of St. Peter there are restorations round his eye, a few in his little finger and in the lower center of the painting in his robe. In the angel there are a few restorations in his torso and arm, yet none of any note. On the shadowed side of his face, his chin, his mouth and his nose there are retouches most likely addressing losses, but the lit side of his face is nicely preserved. There is also a fairly substantial loss in the sash of his gown. The retouches and the lining have been very nicely applied and the quality and freshness of the paint layer is still very plainly evident.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In his entry on this painting in the recent National Gallery exhibition catalogue, Arthur Wheelock dates the picture to circa 1624-25, a period when the young artist was still under the influence of the Utrecht Caravaggisti (see Literature).  Given the connections between Lievens and these artists, it is interesting to note the divergence of his Saint Peter from two roughly contemporary works by Hendrick ter Brugghen (The Liberation of Saint Peter, circa 1624, Mauritshuis, The Hague, inv. no. 966) and Gerrit van Honthorst (The Liberation of Saint Peter, circa 1618, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, inv. no. 431).  While both of these images stress the urgency and fear associated with the angel's appearance to Peter on the night before his execution, Lievens' image is more quiet and contemplative.  Here, Saint Peter does not focus on an insistent angel, but rather, hands raised in prayer, seems drawn forward towards the light entering from the left, as if towards God himself. 

The figures in Saint Peter Released from Prison are close stylistically and physiognomically to Lievens' slightly later series of The Four Evangelists (circa 1626-27, Museen der Stadt Bamberg, Historisches Museum; see Wheelock, op. cit., pp. 98-101).  In addition to giving a similar furrowed and care-worn expression to both Saint Peter and the Evangelist Matthew, the artist has also used the blunt handle-end of his brush to articulate the whiskers of both figure's beards; and, the faces of the angel and the Evangelist John are so similar that it is possible that Lievens employed the same model for both.   

As the photograph in the 2000 Sotheby's catalogue reveals, this canvas has been recently and beautifully restored, after having been cut into twelve separate pieces.  Although the official reason for this damage is undocumented, it is believed to have occurred when a previous owner of the work, a White Russian living in the Ukraine cut the work in order to fit it in his saddlebags when he fled the Red Army in the early twentieth century.¹  Work done at the conservation studio of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art has restored the work to more of its original appearance, although it still seems that it has been trimmed on all four sides.²

1.  This history was provided by Doron J. Lurie, curator of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in written correspondence dated 26 February 2007.  See op. cit., p. 289, note 3.
2.  Ibid., p. 289, note 2.