Exhibition: The Last Caravaggio

In this exhibition, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, 1610, lent by the Intesa Sanpaolo Collection, will be displayed alongside another late work by the Italian artist from the National Gallery Collection, Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist, about 1609–10.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) is one of the most revolutionary figures in art. His strikingly original, emotionally charged paintings, with their intense naturalism, dramatic lighting and powerful storytelling, had a lasting impact on European art and reverberate to this day.

The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, which includes a self-portrait of Caravaggio peering over the saint’s shoulder, was painted during the last months of the artist’s life. Despatched from Naples on 27 May, the finished painting arrived in Genoa on 18 June 1610. Just weeks later, in July 1610, Caravaggio himself set out from Naples, hoping to return to Rome where he believed he would be pardoned for the murder, committed in 1606, which had caused him to flee to the south. He died in Porto Ercole on 18 July 1610, never reaching his destination.

The National Gallery painting, Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist, was also painted towards the end of Caravaggio’s life. The story of the death of John the Baptist is told in the Gospel of Mark (6: 16–29). John had criticised King Herod for marrying his deceased brother’s wife, Herodias, and she sought revenge. At Herod’s birthday feast, Herodias’s daughter Salome so delighted the King by her dancing that he promised her anything she wanted. Encouraged by her mother, she asked for the Baptist’s head, and the King had John executed.

This exhibition presents an opportunity to explore Caravaggio’s late paintings, the representation of violence in his work, and to reflect on violence in our own times. The programming and activity around this project will shed light on the figure of Saint Ursula, allowing visitors to explore her story. The narratives of male violence in Caravaggio’s paintings will also be examined.

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