David with the Head of Goliath (Galleria Borghese)

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, c. 1609–1610

Oil on canvas, 125 × 101 cm

Galleria Borghese, Rome

Room VII · Sicily and the Last Journey (1608–1610)

David with the Head of Goliath (Galleria Borghese), Caravaggio, c. 1609–1610 — Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

David holds Goliath's head up by the hair and looks at it with more pity than triumph; the severed head is a self-portrait of Caravaggio. The sword bears the letters H-AS OS, perhaps for “humility killed pride”. Its dating ranges from 1605 to 1610.