Daily Caravaggio: St. John

Caravaggio's St. John may have been one of his last works

Caravaggio painted John the Baptist many times. The last one (which was probably this, now housed at the Galleria Borghese in Rome) was probably intended as part of a package of paintings that would buy his pardon from the Pope (by ingratiating him with Scipione, the powerful papal nephew). He had been four years under sentence of death and on the run. To coincide with the UK paperback publication of my Caravaggio novel A NAME IN BLOOD, I'm posting each of the paintings that appear in the book this month along with a snippet from the novel. Near the end of the book, Caravaggio is working on the painting when an Inquisitor with whom he has previously jousted surprises him:

The Baptist’s plump foot rested on the log at the fringe of the canvas. Caravaggio edged the toes with a deep umber, filling the nails with grime. He stepped back from the painting, the first of the works he would take to Rome for Cardinal Scipione. The young St John reclined on a stump, his fleshy midriff twisting against his staff and a flowing red drapery. Beside him, the ram that was the symbol of the saint reached up to eat a leaf from a tree.
‘He’s a bit chubby for an ascetic who lived off locusts in the desert, don’t you think?’
Caravaggio dropped his palette and brush. Spinning towards the stairs beyond the studio door, he unsheathed his dagger.
‘A fat little saint. It’s almost conventional. Back in Rome everyone’s doing dirty toenails now, just like you. I couldn’t even call that a typical touch of Caravaggio anymore.’ Leonetto della Corbara grinned as he approached the canvas. Guiding the dagger back to its sheath, he embraced Caravaggio. He held on as the artist pulled away. ‘But I imagine the painters who copy your style in Rome wouldn’t be quite so poised to drop their work and take up their weapon.’
‘Yes, I’m the real thing.’