CARAVAGGIO
(b. 1571, Caravaggio, d. 1610, Porto Ercole)

St John the Baptist at the Well

1607-08
Oil on canvas, 73 x 100 cm
Collezione Bonello, Malta

This painting does not fit into the artist's series of other St John the Baptist paintings. Only a few experts accept it as a genuine Caravaggio. Its colors are muted. A Banner with writing on it, which is wound around the unusually well-defined Jacob's staff on the ground, has an inscription which, although the artist twists it skilfully, can easily be read as: AGNUS DEI, the lamb of God. This painting possibly represents a late phase of the artist's creative work.