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Delivery of the Keys
1481–82 · Musei Vaticani — Cappella Sistina, parete nord, Storie di Cristo
Sizes
image 10×6 in on a 10×8 in sheet
The museum’s file supports 8×10 in at 319 dpi; a larger sheet would fall below our floor.
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Dots per inch: how many pixels of the museum’s file go into each inch of paper. Our floor is 240 for sheets up to 20 inches, 180 up to 36 inches and 120 beyond, because a larger print is seen from further away. We never offer a sheet below the floor, and the number on each size is the one you receive.
Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gsm cotton rag · pigment inks · printed to order
Printed to order · the whole painting, never cropped · if it arrives damaged, we replace it
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All editionsAbout this painting
Saint Peter kneels on a paved square, and Christ puts the keys into his hands. The Vatican Museums read them as sovereignty, power conferred on the first vicar of Christ on earth; Shannon Pritchard notes that the gold and silver pair became Peter's attribute. Behind them the piazza runs far back, where the Vatican finds the tribute money and the attempted stoning played out in small, to the Temple of Jerusalem as a domed octagon between two copies of the Arch of Constantine, the emperor who legalized Christianity. Across the arches runs a Latin couplet that Maurizio Calvesi reads as praise of Sixtus IV: inferior to Solomon in riches, superior in devotion. Perugino painted it in 1481-82 on the chapel's north wall. The conclave still meets here, under these keys, to choose Peter's successor.
Sources: Musei Vaticani, Cappella Sistina, north wall, 'Handing over of the keys', read 2026-09-24 · Musei Vaticani, 'Sistine Chapel', history, read 2026-09-24 · Sergio Rossi, 'La Sistina ri-svelata? Nuove precisazioni (e qualche scoperta) sugli affreschi quattrocenteschi', Acta/Artis, read 2026-09-24 · Dr. Shannon Pritchard, 'Perugino, Christ Giving the Keys of the Kingdom to St. Peter', Smarthistory, read 2026-09-24
And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.
Matthew 16:19 · Douay-Rheims (Challoner)