St Peter 1816

Gerardus Laurentius Keultjes painted this oil on canvas depiction of St. Peter sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. The piece shows St. Peter holding the key to heaven, which, according to Catholic tradition, was bestowed upon him by Christ. Keultjes was working in the Netherlands during a time of great upheaval. The Dutch Republic had collapsed and was replaced by the Batavian Republic, a satellite state of revolutionary France. The Catholic Church had experienced something of a revival in the Netherlands after a long period of suppression, and art such as this may reflect that. Keultjes himself later became a monk, which perhaps suggests that this painting might have been a work of personal devotion, rather than one commissioned by the church. By researching the biographies of artists, and the local histories of the places in which they worked, we can develop a better understanding of how art reflects the societies and institutions that shape it.