Apparition de l'apôtre Pierre à saint Pierre Nolasque

In 1628 the Mercedarian order in Seville commissioned a young Zurbarán to paint a large cycle on the life of their founder, Saint Peter Nolasco, a medieval friar whose order raised money to ransom Christians held captive across the Mediterranean. Nolasco had just been made a saint in Rome, and the pictures were meant to mark it. This one shows his vision of the apostle Peter, who was crucified upside down and appears to him that way, hanging inverted in a darkness Zurbarán refuses to furnish with any room or setting. The two figures simply meet in the black. Zurbarán was around 30 and new to the city, and it was this Seville commission that made his name.