Saint John the Baptist (Galleria Corsini)

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, c. 1604

Oil on canvas, 94 × 131 cm

Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Palazzo Corsini, Rome

Room IV · The Last Years in Rome (1604–1606)

Saint John the Baptist (Galleria Corsini), Caravaggio, c. 1604 — Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

The young Baptist, seated on a red cloth with his reed cross, leans forward lost in thought. Against an almost black ground, the light picks out only his body, the cloak and a few leaves.