Caravaggio: Self-Portraiture in the Baroque: A Barometer of Sin, Spectacle, and Redemption
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Start Date
23-4-2026 12:00 AM
Description
This paper examines the function of self-portraiture in the work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, arguing that it operates not as a means of artistic self-fashioning, but as a site of theological and psychological confrontation. Rather than presenting a stable or idealized identity, Caravaggio repeatedly inserts his own likeness into narratives of sickness, execution, and martyrdom, aligning the artist’s body with sin, mortality, and the possibility of redemption. Through close analysis of Young Sick Bacchus, David with the Head of Goliath, and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew, this paper demonstrates how Caravaggio collapses the distinction between artist and subject, transforming self-portraiture into a form of visual confession. Drawing on the religious climate of the Counter-Reformation, it argues that these self-insertions reflect a broader cultural emphasis on penitence, affect, and the salvific potential of suffering. Ultimately, this study positions Caravaggio’s self-portraiture as a radical departure from Renaissance models of artistic identity. Rather than asserting mastery or permanence, Caravaggio stages the self as fractured, culpable, and subject to judgment. In doing so, he redefines the role of the artist as one not elevated above the world, but entangled within its moral and existential crises.
Recommended Citation
Ducas, Samantha, "Caravaggio: Self-Portraiture in the Baroque: A Barometer of Sin, Spectacle, and Redemption" (2026). 2026 Student Academic Showcase. 10.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/src_2026/oral_presentation/1/10
Caravaggio: Self-Portraiture in the Baroque: A Barometer of Sin, Spectacle, and Redemption
This paper examines the function of self-portraiture in the work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, arguing that it operates not as a means of artistic self-fashioning, but as a site of theological and psychological confrontation. Rather than presenting a stable or idealized identity, Caravaggio repeatedly inserts his own likeness into narratives of sickness, execution, and martyrdom, aligning the artist’s body with sin, mortality, and the possibility of redemption. Through close analysis of Young Sick Bacchus, David with the Head of Goliath, and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew, this paper demonstrates how Caravaggio collapses the distinction between artist and subject, transforming self-portraiture into a form of visual confession. Drawing on the religious climate of the Counter-Reformation, it argues that these self-insertions reflect a broader cultural emphasis on penitence, affect, and the salvific potential of suffering. Ultimately, this study positions Caravaggio’s self-portraiture as a radical departure from Renaissance models of artistic identity. Rather than asserting mastery or permanence, Caravaggio stages the self as fractured, culpable, and subject to judgment. In doing so, he redefines the role of the artist as one not elevated above the world, but entangled within its moral and existential crises.