The Musicians of Rome

The Musicians, Michelangelo Merisi (Caravaggio), Italy ca. 1597, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Four musicians sit, pondering the multiple aspects of their composition. One, a lute player, stares intensely at the viewer, portraying the vulnerability of his emotions. A winged Cupid overlooks the scene, pinpointing Caravaggio’s intention of representing music as a whole. Caravaggio altered his usage of contemporary styles and unique figures, including a self-portrait, seen in the boy second to the right. One of Caravaggio’s contemporaries, Giovanni Baglione, wrote that he created “a concert, with some youths portrayed from nature extremely well.” This is more than likely the same painting described by Baglione and is one of many of his works that portray sensual, earthly figures upon his arrival in Rome.