Peter's vision of a sheet with animals facts for kids
According to the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 10, Saint Peter had a vision of a vessel (Greek: σκεῦος, skeuos; "a certain vessel descending upon him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners") full of animals being lowered from heaven (Acts 10:11). A voice from heaven told Peter to kill and eat, but since the vessel (or sheet, ὀθόνη, othonē) contained unclean animals, Peter declined. The command was repeated two more times, along with the voice saying, "What God hath made clean, that call not thou common" (verse 15) and then the vessel was taken back to heaven (verse 16).
At this point in the narrative, messengers sent from Cornelius the Centurion arrive and urge Peter to go with them. He does so, and mentions the vision as he speaks to Cornelius, saying "God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean" (Acts 10:28). Peter related the vision again in Acts 11:4-9.
Artistic depictions
Peter's vision was rarely shown in art, but has been illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings by Rembrandt and a variant by his pupil van Hoogstraten. Rembrandt was probably reacting to a painting of the subject by Domenico Fetti which was then in Amsterdam, and is now in Vienna. It also appears in the "Altar of St. Peter" in Seville Cathedral, attributed to Francisco de Zurbarán.
