The Musicians

Caravaggio's Musicians from around 1595 was painted for Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte — the Caravaggio's patron who provided the young Lombard painter with lodging, introductions, and commissions that established his reputation in Rome. The painting depicts four youths — musicians, Cupid, and another boy — in a genre scene with mythological overtones that reflects Del Monte's sophisticated humanist tastes and the Florentine Camerata's interest in ancient Greek music's emotional powers. One of the youths may be a self-portrait by Caravaggio. The work was an early indication of his ability to combine genre observation with humanist content in ways that appealed to the Roman intellectual elite.

The painting demonstrates Caravaggio's developing chiaroscuro technique with soft, warm lighting that unifies the closely grouped figures. The careful rendering of musical instruments, sheet music, and fruit shows his gift for combining figure painting with still-life elements.