Delivery of the keys to Saint Peter – Sistine Chapel – Vatican City
The large fresco was entirely executed by Pietro Vannucci in 1483; among the whole cycle, this is the scene that best conveys the complex ideological message of the papal iconographic program, translated into an absolutely innovative but at the same time clear language and characterized by a grandiose perspective-scenographic setting.
The two triumphal arches in the background are inspired by the Arch of Constantine in Rome, while the central temple, an ideal transposition of the Temple of Jerusalem, is painted according to a prebramantesque taste.
The perspective focus point coincides with the hands of Jesus and Saint Peter, who are exchanging keys: this represents the symbolic moment of passage from the Old to the New Testament and above all the continuity between the direct investiture of Peter, the first Pope, and Sixtus IV, the last Pontiff at the time, who wanted the realization of the decorative campaign.
The work is preserved in the Sistine Chapel, in Vatican City.
