The number of figures within the painting is limited: five principal protagonists and two prisoners at a slight distance, observing the martyr, though powerless to help. The lines of vision converge on the victim and the torturer in the centre of the composition. We are stupefied by the violence and the unwavering power of the soldier, lit by a ray of light from the left; not content with having severed the saint’s neck with his sword, he unsheathes his dagger to complete his horrible task, and doesn’t seem able to stop. Contrary to his previous representations, Caravaggio chose to paint the saint with his head forced to the ground and his hands tied behind his back, lying on the ground as he is murdered.

 

Saint John the Baptist, who baptised Christ, was the patron saint of the Order of the Knights of Malta, so as well as the sacrament of baptism the painting symbolises the sacrifice of the knights who died whilst fighting in the numerous clashes with the Turks. This painting, an impressive work 361 centimetres high and 520 centimetres wide, was placed in the Oratory of the Knights of Malta in St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta.

 

In the same church housing Caravaggio’s The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist there are two more of his paintings, which, although obviously completed by his pupils, clearly demonstrate his style. Above the entrance to the passage that leads to the chapels around the third chapel on the left-hand side of the nave, Saint Jerome Writing can be seen on one side, and The Magdalene[73] on the other, though the latter may have been lost. Saint Jerome Writing can still be found in the cathedral.

 

The most celebrated testimony to Caravaggio’s time in Malta is, of course, his portrait of the Grand Master of the Order of the Knights of Malta, Alof de Wignacourt, which is one of the artist’s most famous masterpieces, and one that highlights his mastery of the art of portraiture. The motif of a representative portrait of a full-length figure seems here to be the expression of an important spontaneous solution, whose effect can be seen right up until Le Brun’s state portraits. Caravaggio’s work here reached its climax. The painting, now in the great gallery in the Louvre, should perhaps be hung somewhere else; only as an enhancing centrepiece within representational surroundings can the work be correctly seen. Only in that way can the imposing dignity of the subject and the spatial development into the deep half-light truly be felt. Whereas Titian’s portrait figures appear as if sunk into an unconscious dream world, this portrait by Caravaggio expresses his desire to concentrate on the grandness of the main figure. Where otherwise an impish allegorical putto would play games with the attributes of the person portrayed, in Caravaggio’s painting is a true symbol of what the Grand Master would have wished; a young page can seen, carrying his master’s helmet in true Caravaggian fashion. It is this page who lends an interesting note to the piece as far as colouring is concerned. The powerful brick-red of his doublet effectively relieves the reserved half-tones of the rest of the scene. The Spanish School knew how to learn from such occasional subtleties from the master. Coello above all liked to use this nuance in a range of red hues and made them the main colouring in paintings such as Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Caravaggio, an outstanding portrait painter himself, demonstrated explicitly the typically honest character of his art in the Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt. All his portraits were based on detailed and carefully thought out studies from life, and though they demonstrate tendencies that are the polar opposites of those of Carracci, Caravaggio succeeded in this portrait of the Grand Master in symbolising one of the most fundamental principles of his art: seeing the true appearance of the life model. In an artistic sense this is inherently unbearable, but is compensated for by the magic of his colours and the distinct attraction of his lighting, which, as in all his paintings, also distinguishes this work of art. It is the austerity with which he distributes those decided conditions, which guarantees this symbolisation a particular aesthetic aspect, and the hidden charm gradually reveals itself. In the clear meaning of every line and of each modelled form, Caravaggio’s stylistic secret is revealed in an almost perfect way, and in such a form that the artist’s talent and touch come together in remarkable harmony.

 

Contrary to his other paintings, in The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, a work with a rigorous and original composition, the painter signs this work “Fra Michelangelo” with the Saint’s blood. This is the only work signed by the artist’s hand. It seems that with the term “Fra”, the painter wanted to indicate that he had been granted a Knighthood of the Order of Malta, which was what he had always wished for. At this period in Caravaggio’s life, exiled and condemned for the crime he had committed in Rome against Tomassoni, but having found protection and refuge in the Order of Malta, he waited patiently to return to Rome when pardoned by the Pope. This signature, written with the blood of the saint, seems to reflect the repentance and the aspiration of the painter to his salvation. It can also be interpreted as the affirmation of his notoriety as a painter because the paintings undertaken in Malta were very favourably received. Despite the protection and gratitude he was benefiting from, he was imprisoned once again apparently for having “seduced” the son of a high dignitary. He escaped, however, thanks to help from influential friends.