St. Peter, Study for Ceiling, Saint John the Baptist Church, Brooklyn, NY
Classification
figures
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Accession Number
1960-239-4
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Leon Dabo's *St. Peter, Study Ceiling, Saint John the Baptist Church Brooklyn, NY* (2) offers a glimpse into the preparatory artistry behind early 20th-century decoration. As an American painter born in 1868, Dabo was active during a time when artists often bridged impressionistic landscapes—his primary renown—with commissioned works for public and religious spaces. This figure study, housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, captures the apostle St. Peter, a foundational symbol of the Christian faith, likely sketched as a model for a grand ceiling mural in Brooklyn's Saint John the Bapti...