Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter

Sketch for a relief commissioned in 1818 and executed for the altar in the chapel in the Villa Poggio Reale near Florence. The composition has at first been done in pencil while most of the silhouettes of the figures have been inked in. Jesus’ gesture shows that he is at the same time busy handing the keys to St Peter and is preoccupied with the Apostles in general. A couple of sheep in the middle of the scene allude to Jesus as shepherd and to the role of the Apostles in the further work of the Church.