Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page (1608) | Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt with his Page (c. 1607-1608) is a painting by the Italian master Caravaggio, in the Louvre of Paris.

Alof de Wignacourt joined the Order of the Knights of Saint John (the Knights of Malta) in 1564, aged seventeen, and distinguished himself the next year at the Great Siege of Malta, when the Turks were defeated and never returned to the island. He was elected Grand Master in 1601, determined to enhance the prestige of the Order and its new post-siege capital, Valletta. It was not surprising, therefore, that he would welcome the opportunity to have at his court the most famous painter in Rome and Naples, Michelangelo da Caravaggio.

Caravaggio arrived in Malta from Naples in July 1607 and according to his early biographers Giovanni Baglione and Giovanni Bellori, he began at once with portraits of Wignacourt and other knights from the highest ranks of the Order. This famous portrait shows the Grand Master in formal armour, holding his baton of command, every gleaming inch an image of the military might of the Knights. At the time Wignacourt was about sixty years old. He had strengthened the fortifications of the island, built an aqueduct to guarantee water to the city, and launched several attacks on the Turks. He had turned the Knights into a sovereign power, making himself in effect a prince answerable to no-one except the Pope, with his own increasingly wealthy court.

.: Materials: cotton and polyester composite (canvas), pine wood (frame)
.: Soft rubber dots on bottom back corners for support
.: Back hanging included
.: Inner frame made with radiata pine sourced from renewable forests
.: Please note: Due to the production process of the canvases, please allow for slight size deviations with a tolerance +/- 1/8" (3.2mm)

EU representative: The Art, art.evdilos@gmail.com, evdilos, evdilos, 83302, GR

Product information: Generic brand, 2 year warranty in EU and Northern Ireland as per Directive 1999/44/EC

Care instructions: If the canvas does gather any dust, you may wipe it off gently with a clean, damp cloth.

EU representative: The Art, art.evdilos@gmail.com, evdilos, evdilos, 83302, GR

Product information: Generic brand, 2 year warranty in EU and Northern Ireland as per Directive 1999/44/EC

Care instructions: If the canvas does gather any dust, you may wipe it off gently with a clean, damp cloth.