The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
The object
the signature 'f. michelangelo' scrawled in the blood pooling from John's neck
The story
Caravaggio's only signed painting. He wrote 'f. michelangelo' — Brother Michelangelo, his Knight of Malta title — in the pool of blood spreading from John's neck. The altarpiece was a gift to the Order of Malta, who had inducted him as a Knight partly to shelter him from a Roman murder charge. Within months he was expelled from the Order. The blood signature reads as confession and farewell. Now at St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta @stjohnscocathedral
The reel
The painting
