(Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes, c. 1598–1599, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Rome)

(Caravaggio, Musei Capitolini, Rome, 1594.)

(Caravaggio, The Incredulity of St. Thomas, 1601–2, 1601-02. Oil on canvas, 107 x 146 cm. Sanssouci, Potsdam.)

“In La Musica Ideal (known in the English-speaking world as ‘The Musicians,’ not a translation but, then, the titles were not always given by Caravaggio), what is the young man at the left doing? Why isn’t he playing an instrument? Does he provide the musicians with an audience?”

(Dick Higgins, “The Importance of Caravaggio”, in Modernism Since Postmodernism: essays on intermedia, p.152)