Caravaggio in the oratory
ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
The famous Baroque painter Caravaggio had a short career in Malta - he had escaped to the island and the Order of Saint John in 1607, after having been forced to leave Rome after having killed another man in a brawl (Caravaggio was kind of a bad boy - it was not the only brawl he had been part of). He became a knight of St John, and painted for the order, including the painting to the right here: The beheading of St John (his largest ever, and the only one he ever actually signed). But he continued with his bad behaviour, got arrested by the Order in 1608 - and fled Malta. Needless to say, he was expelled from the Order of Saint John because of all of this. But his painting remains in the cathedral.
Caravaggio in the oratory
ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
The famous Baroque painter Caravaggio had a short career in Malta - he had escaped to the island and the Order of Saint John in 1607, after having been forced to leave Rome after having killed another man in a brawl (Caravaggio was kind of a bad boy - it was not the only brawl he had been part of). He became a knight of St John, and painted for the order, including the painting to the right here: The beheading of St John (his largest ever, and the only one he ever actually signed). But he continued with his bad behaviour, got arrested by the Order in 1608 - and fled Malta. Needless to say, he was expelled from the Order of Saint John because of all of this. But his painting remains in the cathedral.