The Resurrection of Lazarus by Caravaggio: Painted in Exile

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Painted in exile in Sicily

In 1609, on the run after killing a man in Rome, Caravaggio was in Messina, Sicily. A Genoese merchant, Giovanni Battista de’ Lazzari, commissioned an altarpiece for his chapel in the church of the Padri Crociferi. Because of his name, the subject chosen was the raising of Lazarus.

The huge canvas, almost four metres high, is now in the Museo Regionale in Messina.

Christ points, as in the Calling of Saint Matthew

Christ in a red robe pointing towards Lazarus — Christ points from the shadows.

At the left, Christ stands in the shadows and stretches out his arm towards Lazarus. The gesture recalls Christ’s pointing hand in Caravaggio’s Calling of Saint Matthew in Rome, painted ten years earlier.

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A body between death and life

Lazarus’s stiff pale body with arms spread — A body between death and life.

Lazarus has been lifted from the tomb. His body is stiff, arms spread almost in the shape of a cross, still grey with death. One hand reaches towards the light, the other hangs down towards a skull on the ground.

Martha and Mary

Two women bending over Lazarus, one pressing her face to his — Martha and Mary.

At the right, his sisters Martha and Mary bend over him. One presses her face to his, the other watches. Their warm, lit faces contrast with his pale body.

Skull on the floor below a hanging hand — A skull from the grave.

Below, a skull and bones lie on the floor, reminders of the grave Lazarus has just left.

A vast dark space above

More than half of the canvas is an empty, dark wall. All the figures are pressed into the lower part. This emptiness, typical of Caravaggio’s late Sicilian works, makes the scene feel solemn and heavy.

Questions about The Resurrection of Lazarus

Where is it?

Museo Regionale, Messina, Sicily.

Who commissioned it?

The Genoese merchant Giovanni Battista de’ Lazzari, in 1609.

Why Lazarus?

The subject played on the patron’s family name, Lazzari.

How large is it?

About 380 × 275 centimetres, oil on canvas.

Sources and image credit

Wikimedia Commons: The Raising of Lazarus

Public-domain reproduction of The Resurrection of Lazarus (1609), via Wikimedia Commons. Detail images are crops of the same historical painting; no reconstruction or upscaling.