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Secondary sourcePainting1482

St Paul Visits St Peter in Prison

Filippino Lippi · 1482

A fresco by Filippino Lippi in the Brancacci Chapel showing Paul visiting the imprisoned Peter, based on Roman legend.

Depicts a legendary meeting between Paul and the imprisoned Peter, part of the Roman tradition about their final days.

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Fresco painting of a bearded man with a halo in a green tunic and red cloak, pointing upward toward an older bearded man with a halo behind iron prison bars in a small barred window.
Filippino Lippi, St Paul Visits St Peter in Prison, 1482. Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine.

About this source

What it is

This fresco, painted by Filippino Lippi in 1482, is part of the decoration of the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine. It shows Paul, identifiable by his halo, visiting Peter who is held behind prison bars.

Why it matters

The scene illustrates a Roman legend about the two apostles meeting in prison before their deaths, a story important to the early Christian tradition linking Paul and Peter's fates in Rome. The fresco shows how later artists continued to build on and illustrate traditions about Paul's life beyond what is recorded in earlier texts.

Look closer

  • What gesture is Paul making, and what might it suggest about the conversation?
  • Why would this chapel include a scene of the two apostles together in prison?
  • What does this fresco suggest about how legends about Paul developed after his lifetime?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Saint Paul on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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