Portrait of Fra Antonio Martelli

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, c. 1607–1608

Oil on canvas, 118.5 × 95.5 cm

Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence

Room VI · Malta (1607–1608)

Portrait of Fra Antonio Martelli, Caravaggio, c. 1607–1608 — Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

An elderly Florentine knight, the Order's cross on his chest and a rosary in his hand, gazes wearily out of the picture. Martelli had fought in the Great Siege of Malta in 1565: Caravaggio paints him as a veteran, not a hero.