This large canvas, datable to the second half of the 17th century, is taken from the canvas of the same subject - typically Caravaggesque - by Lionello Spada (1576-1622), known as Caravaggio's Monkey, now in the National Gallery in Parma. The canvas is in a generally good state of preservation, with some colour fading, which has been restored to its original state. According to Christian tradition, the ancient Tullianum (or Mamertine) prison in the Roman Forum, below the church of San Giuseppe dei Falegnami, was the place where the apostle Peter was imprisoned.