Resumen de The Identity of Caravaggio's 'Knight of Malta'
Mina Gregori's inspired attribution of the Palazzo Pitti s portrait of a Knight of Malta (Figs. l and 4) to Caravaggio in 1966 has borne fruit in a widespread, if not quite universal, acceptance of it as a masterpiece of the artist's last years. ' But whether it was executed in Malta during Caravaggio's protracted sojourn there from 12th/14thJuly 1607 to September/October 1608, or in Sicily or Naples (where the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem had priories and commanderies) or at another date during his last four wanderjahre, has not been clear. Technical and colouristic parallels point most forcefully towards Malta or the immediately following year in Sicily, but this does not exclude the possibility that it was painted during one of the two enveloping Neapolitan phases (1606-07 and 1609- 10).
