"Paintings Poster - The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (1602) by Caravaggio 11"" x 14"""

Description

A painting by Baroque master Caravaggio completed sometime around 1601-02, probably on commission for his patron Vincenzo Giustiniani, in whose collection in resided for many years. In it, Caravaggio depicts the New Testament scene that gave rise to the colloquial phrase "Doubting Thomas": Thomas the Apostle had missed one of Jesus's appearance to the other Apostles and was skeptical that Jesus had risen. "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." A week later Jesus appears, and the look of shock is apparent on Thomas' face as Jesus guides the Apostle's finger in the wound where he was pierced by the spear. Jesus then spoke, saying: "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Born on September 29th, 1571, Michelangelo Merisi o Amerighi da Caravaggio was an Italian painter whose active career in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily had profound and formative impacts on Baroque-style painting. His works captured both physical and emotional states of human existence, brought to life with dramatic lighting effects. The Catholic Church employed him to create counterreformation paintings to fill many new, large churches being erected in Italy, and as such his works prominently feature Biblical characters and scenes.Outside of his painting career, Caravaggio was described as a kind of discontented troublemaker, who would, after completing some length of work, "swagger about for a month or two with a sword at his side and a servant following him, from one ball-court to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or an argument." His disposition led him to a brawl in 1606 in which he killed a young man, and was forced thereafter to flee from Rome with a price on his head. He was involved with other fights and brawls afterwards, and died in Porto Ercole under mysterious circumstances when he was 38, in 1610.