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The Last Caravaggio

Martyrdom of Saint Ursula. 1610. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. (Photo: Archivio Patrimonio Artistico Intesa Sanpaolo-Luciano Pedicini/The National Gallery)

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By Staff Middle Land

July 19, 2024
5:06 pm
Los Angeles, CA

By The National Gallery May 1610. Caravaggio is in Naples working on the last picture he would paint. Two months later, he dies under mysterious circumstances. But it was during his last, tumultuous years that Caravaggio produced some of his most striking works. His signature style included tightly cropped scenes and dramatic lighting. He used real models with dirty feet and grimy nails. Few paintings are better placed to tell the story of Caravaggio’s final years than his last known work, “The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula” (1610, Gallerie d’Italia, Naples). The painting arrives in London for the first time in 20 years. We witness violence from up close. Caravaggio shows us an intricate interplay of guilty and innocent hands. And his own self-portrait watches helplessly. The National Gallery in

By The National Gallery

May 1610. Caravaggio is in Naples working on the last picture he would paint.

Two months later, he dies under mysterious circumstances. But it was during his last, tumultuous years that Caravaggio produced some of his most striking works.

His signature style included tightly cropped scenes and dramatic lighting. He used real models with dirty feet and grimy nails.

Few paintings are better placed to tell the story of Caravaggio’s final years than his last known work, “The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula” (1610, Gallerie d’Italia, Naples). The painting arrives in London for the first time in 20 years.

We witness violence from up close. Caravaggio shows us an intricate interplay of guilty and innocent hands. And his own self-portrait watches helplessly.

The National Gallery in London exhibits his last work, along with the tasting that describes his creation (Archivio di Stato, Naples), and our own late Caravaggio, “Salome with the Head of John the Baptist” (ca. 1609-10).