Resumen de Signature killer: Caravaggio and the poetics of blood
Blood is one of the most powerful metaphors in art and literature. In his 1608 altarpiece for the Knights of Malta, The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, Caravaggio signed his name “in the blood” of the executed saint. This witty and violent gesture, fruit of the predicament that had brought him to the island—murder, exile, and the chance for redemption—engages in a number of personal and political discourses, some inspired by his honorary knighthood. The signature, which builds on self-fashioning themes explored in Caravaggio’s earlier paintings, also makes a bold contribution to the poetics of concettismo.
