Here you will find the story of why we hunt for Caravaggio paintings, and the list of what we have seen so far. I will be updating as we go. Current count as of 3/24/24: 29 + 1 disputed

It all started with a podcast. My husband Brian loves history podcasts and was listening to Daniele Bolelli’s “History on Fire” Podcast. Daniele’s 11th and 12th podcast episodes, published in August and September of 2016 were entirely focused on the life of Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio, better known as just Carvaggio. This podcast was split into two parts, for a total of about four hours, and is heavily sourced by Andrew Graham Dixon’s biography of Caravaggio called “A Life Sacred and Profane” among others. Brian mentioned these podcast episodes to me but I wasn’t too into podcasts at the time. However, when we went to Rome in 2019, Brian was extremely motivated to see as many Caravaggio paintings as possible. I absolutely loved that Brian had his own interests on our trip, and he planned a few of our outings, which was a nice break for me, since I usually do most of the planning.

As I mention in my Rome Nostalgia article which you can read here, this is where I also fell in love with Caravaggio. While at the Galleria Borghese, we viewed “Boy with a Basket of Fruit”. I stood there mesmerized by the painting to the point where tears came to my eyes. It was definitely a huge moment for me, and I was excited to see more. This was the last day of our trip to Rome though, and so we left a slew of additional paintings there to check out the next time we come. We knew we wanted to see more Caravaggio paintings, and the idea of traveling the world in search of them started to gain some traction.

The pandemic came, and hotel points and airline miles accumulated while we were not traveling. When COVID showed some signs of slowing in the summer of 2021, we were trying to decide how best to use up some of our free hotel nights. That was when the idea to hunt for all of the Caravaggio paintings in the world that we could see was totally solidified. We printed out a list, and since there were a few paintings in the Midwest, we decided we would start close to home. Cleveland is a 5-hour drive from Chicago, and I have friends and family there, so it was an easy choice to go there to see The Cleveland Art Museum’s one Caravaggio painting – “The Crucifixion of St. Andrew”.

There are about 90 Caravaggio paintings out there – some are disputed and some are not on public view. This list on Wikipedia is what we are basically going off of, as it is nice to have photos of the paintings, their location, and whether or not they are on view to the public, and also whether or not they are proven Caravaggio paintings.

I will be adding our list of paintings that we have seen here as we go, as well as some descriptions and thoughts as well. As a side note, when I was in Vienna, Austria with my Mom at the end of 2019, there was actually an EXHIBIT of Caravaggio paintings, where I saw 8 additional paintings, but we decided that it doesn’t count unless me AND Brian see the painting.

Rome, July, 2019

This is where it all started – we got to visit a couple little churches with stunning Caravaggio paintings that will probably be there forever, as well as the Palazzo Barberini and Galleria Borghese which are home to multiple Caravaggio paintings. Unfortunately, the “Narcissus” was traveling when we were at the Palazzo Barberini, so it is stricken from the list (although I did see it in Vienna, but, as mentioned previously, it doesn’t count).

My personal favorites from our trip to Rome were “Boy with a Basket of Fruit” as previously mentioned, and “Madonna and Child with St. Anne”. I loved this latter painting due to the bright colors, interesting subject matter, and the controversial nature of the fact that Caravaggio painted these mega spiritual ladies wearing contemporary clothing, looking like normal human beings rather than exalted figures.

Brian’s favorites were “Judith Beheading Holofernes” and “Conversion of St. Paul on the Road to Damascus.” Judith was a favorite because it was so striking – it grabs you as you view it. St. Paul was interesting because Caravaggio painted the horse’s ass facing a painting that was created by Caravaggio’s challenger for the commission of the altarpiece in the basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, Annibale Carracci, whose painting was ultimately chosen for the altarpiece. Caravaggio sure had a way with trolling his enemies!

Contarelli Chapel, Church of San Luigi de Francesi

• Calling of St. Matthew, 1600
• Martyrdom of St. Matthew, 1600
• Inspiration of St. Matthew, 1602

Cerasi Chapel, Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo

• Crucifixion of St. Peter, 1601
• Conversion of St. Paul on the Road to Damascus, 1601

Il Museo e la Cripta dei Frati Cappuccini

• St. Francis in Prayer, 1601

Palazzo Barberini / Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica

• Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1598
• John the Baptist, 1604
• Narcissus, 1599 (not on view when we were there, but this is where it normally is)

Galleria Borghese

• Young Sick Bacchus, 1593
• Boy with a Basket of Fruit, 1593
• Still Life with Flowers and Fruit, 1601
• St. Jerome Writing, 1605
• Still Life with Fruit on a Stone Ledge, 1605
• Madonna and Child with St. Anne (Madonna dei Palafrenieri), 1606
• John the Baptist, 1610
• David with the Head of Goliath, 1610

Cleveland, Ohio, USA 2021

After the uber lockdowns of 2020, we solidified our determination to hunt for Caravaggios. We decided to take a quick drive to Cleveland since they had a painting in their museum. Interestingly, when the museum acquired the painting, they didn’t even know it was a Caravaggio! What a lucky find for them! We thought the painting was a bit underwhelming, despite its massive size. It was also lit pretty terribly with a lot of natural light coming down from the high-up windows creating a glare on the painting.

Cleveland Museum of Art

• Crucifixion of St. Andrew, 1607

Madrid, Spain, 2022

So when we were planning our trip to Madrid, Caravaggio paintings were really just a fun side project, and not the main purpose of our trip. Either way, we got to see three different paintings in just two days! We were extra excited to see “Salome” at the Palacio Real because we weren’t even sure it would be available to view, as it not always is. We lucked out, and we were able to tick another painting off the list. Brian and I agreed that the painting of “St. Catherine of Alexandria” was easily the best of the three, enjoying the color palate and striking features of the Saint, as well as her controversially seductive pose. As I mentioned in my Spain Hot Take article, which you can read here, we were so taken by the painting that we searched up St. Catherine to get her full story so we could understand the meaning of the painting in real time. Did you know that a palm, featured at the bottom of this painting, means that the person depicted was a martyr?

Palacio Real

• Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, 1609

The Prado

• David and Goliath, 1599

Thyssen – Bornemisza Museum

• St. Catherine of Alexandria, 1598

Montserrat, Spain, 2022

Boy, we almost missed this one when we were in Barcelona! I decided to book a trip last minute up to Montserrat to check out the cool views from the mountain and the weird Black Madonna, which you can read more about here. Before we left for our trip to Spain, I was reviewing the Wikipedia list previously mentioned, and realized that there was a Caravaggio painting in Montserrat! This painting of St. Jerome was extremely brightly contrasted, but was behind glass and lit poorly, so you could see the glare of the lights on the painting.

Museum of Montserrat

• Saint Jerome in Meditation, 1605

Valletta, Malta, August, 2022

Valletta is home to two confirmed and one disputed Caravaggio painting. We lucked out by going to MUZA, a small art museum in Valletta and we were able to find the disputed “John the Baptist” (1608) which was originally listed on Wikipedia as in a private collection and unavailable for viewing, but I have since updated the article. We really lucked out in finding this one as we had zero idea it was here. Check out my article on this lovely museum here!

We went to St. John’s Co-Cathedral for the primary purpose of viewing the two Caravaggio paintings there. The Co-Cathedral also has a lot of history associated with Caravaggio as he was inducted into the Knights of St. John in that very place. It felt super cool to walk in a place where we knew Caravaggio also walked around, and where was inducted into the order as well. The Co-Cathedral is also extremely proud of its two Caravaggio paintings, and even has a short, 10-minute movie about Caravaggio’s life shortly before coming to Malta and what happened while he was here which was pretty dramatic and well done. The Beheading of St. John the Baptist was truly extraordinary. It is the largest painting Caravaggio ever painted and the sense of scale is really crazy. It seems like the people in the painting are life size. It is also Caravaggio’s only signed painting and he signed it in BLOOD. How epic is that?

MUZA, The Malta National Community Art Museum

• John the Baptist, 1608 (disputed)

St. John’s Co-Cathedral

• Beheading of St. John the Baptist, 1608
• St. Jerome Writing, 1607

Dublin, Ireland, October, 2022

We went to Dublin for a long weekend to check out the sites and drink some Guinness. The National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin houses one Caravaggio painting – “The Taking of Christ” which is a large and dark painting with a long history. It was lost for quite some time and then rediscovered in the 1970’s and is on loan indefinitely to the national Gallery from the Jesuit Community. One of the coolest things about this painting is Caravaggio’s self-portrait – he’s in the upper right corner holding the lantern where all the light for this painting is coming from. You can see Judas in the middle kissing Jesus identifying him, and St. John running away. St. John and Jesus’s head seem to meld together. We loved this painting, and sat there admiring it for quite some time. We are getting pretty tired of these paintings being behind glass, though. I get that it’s for preservation purposes but the glare is always terrible, that’s why you see a lighter box from the rooms behind on the left side of the photo below.

The National Gallery of Ireland

• The Taking of Christ, 1602

Detroit, Michigan, USA, December, 2022

This is the closest Caravaggio painting to us in Chicago, and when I heard that the Detroit Institute of Arts had a big, giant Vincent Van Gogh exhibit going on (74 paintings!) it was the excuse we needed to do a quick, overnight trip to Detroit. The Detroit Institute of Arts houses “Martha and Mary Magdalene,” painted in 1598. It’s a striking painting, and Caravaggio uses the same model as he did for both “Judith” and “Catherine.” The illumination of Mary compared to the rest of the painting is what is most interesting here. Martha is pleading with Mary to let go of her non-pious ways and follow Christ. The light on Mary really emphasizes her conversion. This painting was one of our favorites of the year, and we sat for a while looking at it. They do a good job of lighting it, as there is no glare on the painting, and I was able to get a really good photo. The DIA, though, doesn’t even CARE that it has a Caravaggio! There is no sign of it – not even a pithy postcard in the gift shop, so that was disappointing. Luckily, the painting is not too far away, and I’d imagine we might be back at some point in the future to admire it again.

The Detroit Institute of Arts

• Martha and Mary Magdalene, 1598

Chicago, Illinois, USA, October, 2023

The Art Institute of Chicago must’ve heard Brian’s complaint: How can they be such a world-class art museum and NOT have any Caravaggio paintings? Well, this fall, the Art Institute brought two Caravaggio paintings to its galleries for the Chicago public to view. The first painting is “Martha and Mary Magdalene,” pictured above. This was actually the last Caravaggio painting we’ve been able to view and it’s been almost a year since we’ve had a chance to see any Caravaggio paintings at all. It was lovely to see Martha and Mary again in Chicago.

The second painting is “Cardsharps,” painted in 1594 or 5. This was one of his earlier, secular works, and the contrast between this work, normally found in the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth Texas, and the later, “Martha” work was glaring. You can see that Caravaggio had already developed his talents and signature light and dark contrast in “Cardsharps,” but in the “Martha” painting, painted about 3-4 years later, the contrasts were extreme. “Cardsharps” is a fun and interesting painting that tells the story about an obviously wealthy but stupid boy getting fleeced by a couple of con artists. I do love the colors in this painting, especially the yellow and blues of the shirt and vest of the player with the extra cards behind his back. It’s neat to see the more secular paintings, too, because the later ones are all so biblical and serious. If you’re in Chicago, these two paintings, rarely on loan, will be on view through December 31, 2023!

The Art Institute of Chicago

• Cardsharps, 1594

Kansas City, Missouri, USA, November, 2023

Kansas City was our pick this year for the primary purpose of traveling to see a Caravaggio painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum houses one painting by our favorite Master called “John the Baptist in the Wilderness.” This is a pretty huge painting and JtB is nearly life-sized and almost completely naked. Here, everything is stripped away from him, and the only clue that it’s John is the very primitive staff with the cross on top.

I thought that the painting of John himself was amazing, and the lush red robes around him really were bright and stunning. The contemplative look on his face was gripping. I didn’t love how dark the background was, since his hair kind of just blends into the leafy background. Caravaggio did a ton of paintings of John the Baptist at several stages throughout his life. I’m pretty sure John the Baptist is the most painted subject by Caravaggio, and you can see him in his paintings as a child all the way through his beheading, which are always full of drama. It’s nice to see John all on his own for a change, without all the drama, or being overshadowed by Jesus.

The Nelson Atkins Museum

• John the Baptist in the Wilderness, 1604

Toledo, Ohio, USA, April, 2024

The Toledo Museum of Art put together an incredible exhibit of four out of the eight Caravaggio paintings in the United States and we couldn’t miss checking it out. I was so impressed with the museum’s exhibit that I decided to write an entire article about it, which you can check out here! We saw two new-to-us Caravaggios here, along side already seen “Martha and Mary” and “Cardsharps.”

The Toledo Museum of Art

• Musicians, 1595 (Usually on display at the Met in New York City)
• St. Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, 1595 (Usually on display at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut)