Artworks

Ciclo di san Matteo

Artwork · Caravaggio · 1599–1602 · cycle · Contarelli Chapel

Three large canvases Caravaggio painted for the Contarelli Chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi — his first public commission: the Vocazione di san Matteo on the left wall and the Martirio di san Matteo on the right (contract of 23 July 1599, hung in July 1600), and the altarpiece San Matteo e l'angelo (1602). The altarpiece exists in two versions: the first was replaced in 1603 by the second, which hangs there today; the first was sold to Vincenzo Giustiniani, came to Berlin in 1815 and presumably burnt in May 1945. The three were made to be seen together in this chapel, and they still are.