Michelangelo Merisi Crucifixion Analysis

Michelangelo Merisi’s Crucifixion of St. Peter is oil paint on canvas. It is currently on display in the Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, Italy. The image depicts four men and wood that from what we can see is assumed to be a cross .One of the men, wearing just cloth as underwear, that is nailed to the cross by his hands and feet is St. Peter. The other three men are all using different techniques to try and lift the cross to a vertical position where the man would be upside down. The color pallet consists of mostly dark values of red and neutral colors with one pop of bright red, two areas of low saturated yellows, and two areas with low saturated blues. Merisi brilliantly uses sight lines and lighting to create movement and emphasis

Peter’s crucifixion, but it has a deeper meaning of the significance of his death. The fact that it takes three men using all their might to lift the cross represents not just the physical weight of it but the emotional and ethical weight of it. The man in the bottom left corner tells this the best. There is nothing telling us about whom this man is or what his beliefs are. By the fact he has no shoes on and how dirty his feet are that he could be a poor man that is just doing a job or he could be another Christian who is forced to do this to someone he cares about. Assuming that is the case, the fact that he has to do this is crushing him just like how physically the cross is crushing him. Additionally, since the man’s face is not shown, he could come to represent all Christians and how it affects them all the same. Furthermore, it shows the darkness that is to come once the bright holy man dies. Around St. Peters feet and legs his body has some shading on it that sort of blends in with the background showing how as he is dying the darkness is taking over. Overall, Merisi did a marvelous job creating the scene and the emotions to tell not just the story of St. Peter’s Crucifixion, but also the affect it had on