Sleeping Cupid

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1608

Oil on canvas, 72 × 105 cm

Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence

Room VI · Malta (1607–1608)

Cupid sleeps in the dark, his bow broken and his arrows cast aside: earthly love set aside. An inscription on the back records that it was painted in Malta in 1608 for Fra Francesco dell'Antella, perhaps as a reminder of his vow of chastity.