The Capitoline Museums, in Rome, keep two works by Caravaggio in their Pinacoteca: Saint John the Baptist, from 1602, and The Gypsy Soothsayer, from 1595.
A coup painted as an everyday scene
The Gypsy Fortune Teller portrays a street scene: a young gypsy, while pretending to read the hand of a distracted boy, discreetly steals a ring from his finger. It is one of the first examples of Caravaggio's interest in popular scenes, without grandeur, taken directly from real life in Rome. There is a second version of this same composition, today in the Louvre Museum, in Paris.
The freedom of a private order
Saint John the Baptist was painted for Ciriaco Mattei, a private collector and important figure in Rome at the time. Because it was a private commission, and not from a church or a cardinal, Caravaggio had unusual freedom to treat the sacred theme in his own way, without the demands of decorum that an ecclesiastical commission normally imposed.
Access to the Capitoline Museums
Regular admission to the Capitoline Museums already guarantees access to the Pinacoteca, which makes these two works a relatively simple stop for those already in Piazza del Campidoglio, the square designed by Michelangelo in the historic heart of Rome.
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See recommended readingsFrequently asked questions
Which works by Caravaggio are in the Capitoline Museums?
Saint John the Baptist (1602) and A Gypsy Soothsayer (1595), both in the Pinacoteca Capitolina, in the room dedicated to baroque painters.
What does The Gypsy Guess represent?
An everyday scene in which a young gypsy, while pretending to read the hand of a distracted boy, discreetly steals a ring from him. There is also a second version of this painting, in the Louvre Museum, in Paris.
For whom did Caravaggio paint Saint John the Baptist in the Capitoline Museums?
For Ciriaco Mattei, private collector and influential figure of the time. Because it was a private commission, Caravaggio had unusual freedom to treat the sacred theme in his own way.
Continue to the Caravaggio cluster: Who was Caravaggio? · Caravaggio and the Bible · Galleria Borghese and Caravaggio
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