The Lute Player

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, c. 1596

Oil on canvas, 94 × 119 cm

Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

Room I · The Early Years (c. 1592–1597)

A youth sings to his own lute, in front of a legible score, a violin, flowers and fruit. Caravaggio reportedly counted it among his best pictures; it was painted for the marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani, and other versions exist.