A painting a day · No. 8 of 38
The Calling of Saint Matthew
Caravaggio (1571–1610)
1599–1600 · Oil on canvas · Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
The story
Christ walks into a tax office and points at Matthew, the tax collector, who will become his disciple. Caravaggio dresses everyone except Christ in the clothes of his own day, as if it were happening in a Roman back room.
Look closer
- Christ's hand is borrowed from Michelangelo's Adam in the Sistine Chapel.
- The beam of light runs parallel to his pointing arm, into the room.
- Which one is Matthew? The bearded man pointing at himself — or the young man still counting coins? Scholars still argue.
Did you know
It still hangs in the chapel it was painted for. You can see it for free; the lights are on a coin meter.
Why we can show it
Caravaggio died in 1610. UK copyright lasts for the artist’s life plus 70 years, so even under today’s rules this painting would have been free for anyone to show since 1681. The photograph is a faithful copy of a flat work, which creates no new copyright. We do not store the picture: it comes from Wikimedia Commons each time it is needed. More on this.