The Calling of Andrew and Peter (fresco, reproduction reverses original direction, 1375-78) by Giusto di Giovanni de’ Menabuoi (d.1393), Baptistery, Padua, Italy
The story of the calling of the apostles Peter and Andrew often featured in cycles of the Life of Christ as we see in this fresco by Giusto di Menabuoi dated to the last quarter of the fourteenth-century. The episode narrated in Mark’s Gospel 1:16-18 briefly recounts how Simon Peter and his brother Andrew were fishing in the Sea of Galilee. From the shore they hear Jesus call to them: “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” The brothers immediately left their nets and joined Christ. This charming scene with the fishing boat just moored in the foreground at left depicts the apostles as they come ashore in answer to Christ’s call to them. Despite the nets lying full from a successful catch, the two brothers now turn their back on their trade as fisherman. The men kneel, their hands clasped in an attitude suggestive of the promises they will make to follow Christ. We recognise St Peter in the foreground, closest to the viewer. He wears a cloak of yellow gold, a colour symbolically associated with him. Moreover his expression of intense devotion surely hints at his impulsive behaviour. Christ’s commanding figure and authoritative gestures stress the solemnity of this moment. Undoubtedly the now faded tones of Christ’s once brilliant blue cloak would have lent his figure further visual power. Menabuoi’s portrayal of the sea focuses on suggesting the choppy movement of the waves. He is less concerned to depict a spatially convincing transition from sea to land. In a narrative feature typical of visual story-telling in the late Middle Ages, the viewer notes three hallowed figures in a small boat in the background. This scene surely depicts a later moment in Mark’s narrative, where the evangelist recounts how James and John the sons of Zebedee also take up Christ’s call to follow him.
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