Saint John the Baptist
1602
Caravaggio completely ditched the traditional, solemn haloed saints for this cheeky, bare-chested teenager wrestling a ram in the shadows. Painted in 1602 during his wild Roman years, this Baroque masterpiece uses dramatic lighting to highlight the boy's smooth skin and playful smirk, making a biblical figure look more like a mischievous street urchin than a holy prophet. It's a perfect example of how the artist shocked the establishment by painting sacred subjects with the gritty, unidealized realism of everyday people, forever changing how we see religious art.
- Technique
- Oil on canvas
- Material
- Canvas
- Dimensions
- 129 cm × 94 cm
Location: Capitoline Museums, Rome
Views: 3