The Calling of Saint Matthew, Caravaggio
Caravaggio·The Calling of Saint Matthew·1599–1600·Oil on canvas·Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome↓

Caravaggio Italian, 1571 – 1610

The Calling of Saint Matthew, 1599–1600

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Christ enters a dim counting-house and points at the tax collector Matthew, who is counting coins with a group of fashionably dressed men. A shaft of light follows Christ's gesture across the wall. The sacred breaks into an ordinary Roman room.

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Christ's hand quotes Adam's hand from Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling. Scholars still debate which man at the table is Matthew.

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