Christ Handing Keys to Saint Peter. The Delivery of the Keys, or Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Pietro Perugino, executed in 1481-1482 and located in the Sistine Chapel, Rome.
The commission of the work originated in 1480, when Perugino was decorating a chapel in the Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Pope Sixtus IV was pleased by his work, and decided to commission him also the decoration of the new Chapel he had built in the Vatican Palace.
Due to the size of the work, Perugino was later joined by a group of painters from Florence, including Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and others. While the work was still being created, a visit from Alfonso II of Naples resulted in his addition to the far left of the group of foreground figures.
To balance out the image, an apostle was added above St. Peter. The scene, part of the series of the Stories of Jesus on the chapel's northern wall, is a reference to Matthew 16 in which the keys of the kingdom of heaven are given to Saint Peter.
These keys represent the power to forgive and to share the word of God thereby giving them the power to allow others into heaven. The main figures are organized in a frieze in two tightly compressed rows close to the surface of the picture and well below the horizon. The principal group, showing Christ handing the silver and gold keys to the kneeling St. Peter, is surrounded by the other Apostles,
The commission of the work originated in 1480, when Perugino was decorating a chapel in the Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Pope Sixtus IV was pleased by his work, and decided to commission him also the decoration of the new Chapel he had built in the Vatican Palace.
Due to the size of the work, Perugino was later joined by a group of painters from Florence, including Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and others. While the work was still being created, a visit from Alfonso II of Naples resulted in his addition to the far left of the group of foreground figures.
To balance out the image, an apostle was added above St. Peter. The scene, part of the series of the Stories of Jesus on the chapel's northern wall, is a reference to Matthew 16 in which the keys of the kingdom of heaven are given to Saint Peter.
These keys represent the power to forgive and to share the word of God thereby giving them the power to allow others into heaven. The main figures are organized in a frieze in two tightly compressed rows close to the surface of the picture and well below the horizon. The principal group, showing Christ handing the silver and gold keys to the kneeling St. Peter, is surrounded by the other Apostles,
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