Attributed to Giovanni Dó

Attributed to GIOVANNI DÓ (Xátiva, 1601-Naples, 1656)
"Saint Peter Penitent.
Oil on canvas. Re-framed in the 19th century.
Important 18th century frame with wear and tear.
Measurements: 113 x 91 cm; 142 x 120 cm (frame).
The canvas represents the prince of the apostles, Saint Peter, in profile to the spectator, directing his look towards a skull that represents the transience of life and the banality of the material. The saint is easily identified thanks to his usual iconographic features: a prominent bald head, grey hair and a short beard. It should be noted, however, that in this case the keys, an emblem of his power on earth and in heaven, granted by Christ, and the book are not visible. The figure is depicted in an attitude of astonishment or surprise, and the pictorial technique contributes, with its somewhat undone and free forms, to this sensation of movement, a characteristic that can be seen especially in the folds generated by the tunic. The composition is dominated by earth tones and a strong chiaroscuro, characteristic of the Spanish school of the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as the use of emphatic and monumental forms. As a result, in this canvas we see a colossal Saint Peter, with broad shoulders and pronounced, protruding cheekbones. The saint's pose and the manner in which the skull is shown are highly reminiscent of the painting of Saint Jerome by Giovanni Dó, now in the collection of the Whitfield Fine Arts Gallery, London.Peter (Bethsaida, c. 1 BC - Rome, 67) was, according to the New Testament, a fisherman, known to be one of Jesus' twelve apostles. The Catholic Church identifies him through the apostolic succession as the first Pope, based among other things on Jesus' words to him: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the power of Death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven". St. Peter could be said to have been Jesus' confessor, his closest disciple, the two being united by a very special bond, as narrated in both the canonical and apocryphal Gospels.
Giovanni Dó or Juan Dó was born in the town of Xàtiva, near Valencia. It is known that in 1626, Giovanni Do was in Naples. His only masterpiece, and firm attribution, is his tenebrist "Adoration of the Shepherds" for the church of Pietà dei Turchini in Naples. The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid has an Adoration of the Shepherds which turned out to be a version of an unpublished original by Ribera, of similar dimensions.