The Calling of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew (Vocation de Saint Pierre et Saint André)

Jesus begins his ministry to the people by calling disciples, or apostles, those who will help him spread his teachings. Peter and Andrew, fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, heed his call at once, leaving behind their nets. Their immediate acceptance of his call to a new life sets the tone for discipleship.

Intent on giving a wealth of practical detail, Tissot in his commentary on this image describes the method of fishing with nets in the shallows near the shoreline, a practice that would have allowed Peter and Andrew to hear Jesus easily. Believing that little had changed in the Holy Land since Jesus’ time, Tissot equips them much like the fishermen he observed during his visits to the region in the 1880s, with nets worn around the waist to carry the day’s catch.