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

David with the Head of Goliath (detail)

1609-10
Oil on canvas
Galleria Borghese, Rome

This painting offers in the head of the giant Goliath a last and painful self-portrait. The scarred, haggard head of Goliath with its vacant gaze speaks of the painter's profound anxiety.