POLIDORO DA CARAVAGGIO (C. 1495-MESSINA 1543)
The head of St Thomas
c.1527RCIN 901888
Polidoro da Caravaggio produced some of the most engaging life studies of the Renaissance. The figure here has been given a halo, and looks up with an expression of trepidation; he might be St Thomas at the moment at which Christ showed his wound to the incredulous Disciple after the Resurrection. Polidoro executed a painting of that subject around 1530 (now in the Courtauld Institute Galleries), but the saint there is quite different in appearance.
No. 17