Pompeo Batoni, The Fall of Simon Magus
Severance Fund, 1983.217 · The Cleveland Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0)View original →
Pompeo Batoni

The Fall of Simon Magus

c. 1745–50

Current Collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
183 × 108 cm
Status
In Museum Collection
Collect24 Art ID
C24-110796

Saints Peter and Paul came to Rome to win converts to Christianity soon after Christ’s death, while Simon Magus, claiming to be the son of God, attempted to prove his divinity by flying. Due to Saint Peter’s prayers, the demons supporting Simon abandoned him and he plummeted to his death. This work is probably a studio copy after a lost oil sketch for a huge altarpiece commissioned in 1746 for Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Because of the humidity in Saint Peter’s, which quickly ruined paintings, the work was to have been translated into a massive mosaic. However, for reasons that rem…

Provenance

Severance Fund, 1983.217

Registry history

  • c. 1745–50 — Recorded in the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

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