Caravaggio completes The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew…

Caravaggio completes The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew and The Calling of Saint Matthew in July of this year for the Contarelli Chapel in the church of the French congregation, San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome.

Over a decade before, Cardinal Matteu Contreil (in Italian, Matteo Contarelli) had left funds and specific instructions for the decoration of a chapel based on themes of his namesake.

Decoration of the dome was started with frescoes by the late Mannerist artist, and one of the most popular painters in Rome at the time, Cavalier D'Arpino, Caravaggio's former employer.

But with the elder painter busy with royal and papal patronage, Cardinal Francesco Del Monte, Caravaggio's patron and also the prefect of the Fabbrica of St. Peter's (the Vatican office for Church property), intervened to obtain for Caravaggio his first major church commission and first painting with more than a handful of figures.

The first two Contarelli paintings are immensely popular, and place Caravaggio at the forefront of the new naturalistic movement in Rome.