Painting
The Calling of Saint Matthew
Caravaggio, 1599-1600
Show the style
Baroque · chronological order 6
Where to see it
Church of San Luigi dei Francesi
Rome · Italy
It still hangs in the chapel it was painted for, the Contarelli, and entry is free.
Oil on canvas, 322 × 340 cm, painted by Caravaggio between 1599 and 1600 for the Contarelli Chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, his first important public commission. It shows the moment Christ walks into the room where Matthew is collecting taxes and points at him, while a hard beam of light crosses the scene from a window that is not there. People still argue about which of the figures is Matthew: the bearded man pointing at himself, or the young one bent over the coins?