Christ's Command to St. Peter, "Feed My Sheep!" ("Pasce Oves Mea") Gm-00050801

Andrea Sacchi (Italian, 1599–1661) Exploring the arrangement and poses of his figures within the arched format, Andrea Sacchi revealed his thought process as he considered options for the physical relationship between Christ and the kneeling Saint Peter. He drew over Saint Peter in red chalk, deliberating whether to make him a bit taller while retaining the same pose. To fill the lower left of the composition, Sacchi faintly sketched in some sheep, which identify the subject as Jesus instructing Saint Peter to "Feed my sheep." (John 21:15-17) This command, putting Peter in charge of the physical and spiritual sustenance of Jesus' flock, the early Christians, is the source of Peter's position as the first pope.

The powerful and wealthy Barberini family, which included Pope Urban VIII as well as several cardinals, commissioned numerous artists to create a series of frescoes illustrating Peter's life for their palazzo. This drawing was one of the many designs produced for the planned wall decorations, but no fresco was ever actually executed.

High Quality Wood Framed Print using museum quality paper and archival inks with a white border or with cut mat for a contemporary look. Comes with Acrylite glazing and hanging hardware. These are Made in USA or Europe depending upon your location.

Stretched Canvas is stretched over 1.25" thick pine bars and printed on heavy cotton poly matte finish canvas. Comes with mounting brackets. These are Made in USA or Europe depending upon your location.

Giclee Prints are printed on 260gsm satin finish using the finest archival inks. Each print carries a white border around the perimeter. The listed size refers to the overall paper dimensions. The image is printed proportionally within this paper size and includes a small white border. These are Made in USA or Europe depending upon your location.

All of our images are digitized from the original or negative. Questions? Please email service@archivea.com.

Artwork in this collection is from The J. Paul Getty Museum. Reproduction rights are reserved by the copyright owner and used under license by Archivea.