HELMONT, Mattheus van
(b. 1623, Antwerpen, d. ca. 1679, Bruxelles)

Liberation of St Peter

1650s
Oil on panel, 62 x 83 cm
Private collection

In this picture the painter has relegated the miraculous episode from the life of St peter to the background, focusing instead on the foreground, in which sits a group of soldiers, reminiscent of the popular tavern scenes painted by Teniers, Brouwer and others.