Saint John the Baptist with a Ram

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1602

Oil on canvas, 129 × 94 cm

Musei Capitolini, Rome

Room III · The Great Commissions (1600–1604)

A naked, smiling boy embraces a ram: nothing seems to recall the stern prophet of the wilderness, which is why the subject is still debated. The pose echoes Michelangelo's nudes on the Sistine ceiling. It was painted for Ciriaco Mattei.