Portrait of Caravaggio, turned to the right and looking at his reflection in a mirror
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 8 3/4 × 4 7/8 in. (22.2 × 12.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1960
Accession Number
60.708(103)
Tags
Art Historical Context
This evocative etching, titled *Portrait of Caravaggio, to the right and looking his reflection in a mirror was created by French engraver Henri Simon Thom between 1707 and1741. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department (gift of Harry G. Friedman 1960), the modestly sized sheet—trimmed to 8¾ × 4⅞ inches—captures the Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (15711610) in aous portrait. Turned profile, he gazes intently at his mirror reflection, surrounded by skulls that underscore a vanitas motif, reminding viewers of life's transience. Etching, a printm...