As Peter was warming himself at a fire in the courtyard in front of Caifa’s palace, where Jesus was being interrogated, one of the High Priest’s maids recognised him as disciple of Jesus. When Peter denied this, Jesus’ words “before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times” were fulfilled.

The nocturnal scene by the fire was perfectly suited to painters in the Caravaggio vein. On this upright painting Seghers depicted it with only three emphasised plastic figures and a dog’s head at the left edge. The torch which is the source of light is hidden by the soldier’s arm, while the light flows over the faces of the main figures – over the face of the girl and Saint Peter. The background is neutral, which is typical of Seghers’ early works, when he was influenced by the Caravaggists. The emphasised plasticity of the bodies and the strong contrasts of light and darkness also indicate strong influences from this direction and suggest a dating around 1620.

The Teyler Museum in Haarlem keeps a Seghers drawing with exactly the same composition as that of our painting. A print (A. de Paullis) also exists, but its composition is in reverse.
Although this painting is of good quality, it is still possible that it is a product of the master’s workshop or of some Antwerp copyist who was influenced by Rubens, as indicated by the draping of the garments.