''The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist'' is an
oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
by the Italian artist
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...
. Measuring 3.7 m by 5.2 m, it depicts the execution of
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
. It is located in the Oratory of
St. John's Co-Cathedral in
Valletta
Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...
,
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
.
According to Andrea Pomella in ''Caravaggio: An Artist through Images'' (2005), the work is widely considered to be Caravaggio's masterpiece as well as "one of the most important works in Western painting."
Jonathan Jones has described ''The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist'' as one of the ten greatest works of art of all time: "Death and human cruelty are laid bare by this masterpiece, as its scale and shadow daunt and possess the mind."
Composition
The painting, in oil on canvas, is by and prominent are the vivid
red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
and warm
yellow
Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...
colours, common to the Baroque period with the use of
chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...
.
The image depicts the execution of
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
while nearby a servant girl stands with a golden platter to receive his head. Another woman, who has been identified as
Herodias
Herodias ( el, Ἡρῳδιάς, ''Hērǭdiás''; ''c.'' 15 BC – after AD 39) was a princess of the Herodian dynasty of Judaea during the time of the Roman Empire. Christian writings connect her with John the Baptist's execution.
Family relat ...
or simply a bystander who realizes that the execution is wrong,
stands by in shock while a jailer issues instructions and the executioner draws his dagger to finish the beheading. The scene, popular with Italian artists in general and with Caravaggio himself, is not directly inspired by the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
, but rather by the tale as related in the ''
Golden Legend
The ''Golden Legend'' (Latin: ''Legenda aurea'' or ''Legenda sanctorum'') is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in late medieval Europe. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived.Hilary ...
''.
It is the only work by Caravaggio to bear the artist's signature, which he placed in red blood spilling from the Baptist's cut throat.
There is considerable empty space in the image, but because the canvas is quite large the figures are approximately life-sized.
Caravaggio drew the background for his work from his memories of his time in a prison of the Knights of Malta.
Characteristically of his later paintings, the number of props and the detail in the props used is minimal.
History
![Salome with the Head of John the Baptist-Caravaggio (1610)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Salome_with_the_Head_of_John_the_Baptist-Caravaggio_%281610%29.jpg)
Completed in 1608 in
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
, the painting had been commissioned by the
Knights of Malta
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...
as an
altarpiece
An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...
;
it was the largest altarpiece which Caravaggio would ever paint.
It still hangs in
St. John's Co-Cathedral, for which it was commissioned and where Caravaggio himself was inducted and briefly served as a knight.
Caravaggio's service to the Order was brief and troubled, however, as he was soon a
fugitive
A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...
from justice, having escaped while imprisoned for an unrecorded crime.
When Caravaggio was defrocked ''in absentia'' as a "foul and rotten member" by the Order about six months after his induction, the ceremony took place in the Oratory, before this very painting.
![CaravaggioSalomeMadrid](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/CaravaggioSalomeMadrid.jpg)
Caravaggio did several pieces depicting the moments after the event depicted here. One of these is on display in London's
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
; the other, in the
Royal Palace of Madrid
The Royal Palace of Madrid ( es, Palacio Real de Madrid) is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies.
The palace has of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the ...
. It is believed that one of these may be the image that Caravaggio was said to have sent in an effort to appease
Alof de Wignacourt
Fra Alof de Wignacourt (1547 – 14 September 1622) was a French nobleman who was the 54th Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from 10 February 1601 to his death in 1622. Unlike a number of the other Grand Masters, he was popul ...
,
Grand Master of the Knights who expelled Caravaggio, but this is not certainly known.
''The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist'' has been badly damaged,
though it did receive some restoration in the 1950s prior to a notable exhibition in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
in 1955–56, which brought the work considerable attention. It was during the restoration that Caravaggio's signature in the blood became visible to modern viewers.
The signature is a matter of some dispute. The work is signed ''f. Michelang.o'' (the ''f'' to indicate his brotherhood in the order),
[Warwick (2006), p. 15.] but it is popularly claimed that Caravaggio signed "I, Caravaggio, did this" in confession of some crime—perhaps connected to the 1606 death of Ranuccio Tomassoni at Caravaggio's hands, which had caused the painter to flee Rome.
See also
*
List of paintings by Caravaggio
The following is a list of paintings by the Italian artist Caravaggio, listed chronologically.Spike, John T. ''Caravaggio''. New York : Abbeville Press, 2001: p. 253–54
List of paintings
Footnotes
Further reading
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* ...
References
Further reading
Caravaggio's Maltese inspiration
* Jürgen Müller: „Öffnet die Tore!“ Caravaggios Enthauptung Johannes des Täufers in neuer Deutung, in: ''Kunstgeschichte. Open Peer Reviewed Journal'', 2020
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beheading Of Saint John The Baptist, The
1608 paintings
Paintings by Caravaggio
Paintings depicting John the Baptist
Paintings about death
Christian art about death
Paintings in Malta