#baroque

From what I can find, this was painted while he was still wanted for killing a man years earlier, waiting on a pardon that never came in time — some people who write about this see Peter's denial as an odd echo of his own situation, though that's speculation, not something he ever said himself.

This is the Bible story of Daniel thrown into a den of lions for refusing to stop praying to his own god — and coming out fine. Apparently Rubens painted the lions true to life-size, which is part of why the scene lands so hard.

They say the cardinal who commissioned this kept Caravaggio living in his own household — patrons like that collected talented people the way others collected art.

I couldn't track down who commissioned this one, but paintings like this were usually meant for a private chapel or a bedroom, not a church altar where everyone could see it.

According to the story behind this, the men sent to take him down from the cross found their hands mysteriously paralyzed, so he ended up dying there anyway — not exactly the ending anyone had planned.

This was painted just after her wedding — the Spinola and Doria families were about as prominent as Genoa got, so a portrait like this was as much a statement about the marriage as about her. Apparently the canvas has been trimmed down more than once over the centuries, losing a garden in the background and part of her lower half in the process.