ABSTRACT
Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known as El Greco (“the Greek”), was born on the Venetian-ruled island of Crete in 1541 and moved to Spain in 1577 after residing for a while in Italy. His main place of residence in Spain was the town of Toledo, where he died in 1614. His The Tears of Saint Peter was painted in the 1580s or 1590s and the theme is the deeply-felt repentance experienced by Saint Peter after having denied Christ three times and the tears he wept (Luke 22:62: “And Peter went out, and wept bitterly”; Matthew 26:75: “And he went out, and wept bitterly”). 1 Peter’s deep remorse, regret and humility are vividly portrayed as Peter lifts his tearful eyes to the Heavens, appealing to God to forgive his human weakness. The painting is a classic example of the religious art produced by artists in the so-called Catholic ‘Counter-Reformation’, in which the humanity of the saints was emphasized through the emotions.
