by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Page Created on / Page Updated on
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
The Resurrection of Lazarus by Caravaggio in Messina
Christ calls Lazarus from the dead as the man's arms open into the light and his sisters lean close. Caravaggio's Resurrection of Lazarus is a monumental 380 × 275 cm oil-on-canvas painting in the Museo Regionale Accascina, Messina. Its museum dates it 1609 and reports that merchant Giovan Battista de' Lazzari commissioned it; the work was delivered on 10 June 1609.[1]
The owner record supplies an unusually precise delivery date for a Caravaggio painting. It also repeats a dramatic later story about an exhumed corpse and threatened models. Those are different kinds of evidence. The dated commission and delivery belong in the facts card; the macabre account belongs in a clearly labelled section on later legend.[1]
Caravaggio in context
The Cardsharps
c.1595Calling of Saint Matthew
1599–1600Supper at Emmaus
1601At a Glance
- ArtistCaravaggio, Museo Regionale Accascina attribution[1]
- TitleThe Resurrection of Lazarus / Resurrezione di Lazzaro[1]
- Date1609; delivered 10 June 1609 in the owner account[1]
- Medium and sizeoil on canvas, 380 × 275 cm[1]
- CollectionMuseo Regionale Accascina, Messina, Sala Caravaggio in the owner record[1]
- Original sitechurch of Santi Pietro e Paolo dei Pisani of the Crociferi fathers, Messina; later destroyed in 1908[1]
- CommissionerGiovan Battista de' Lazzari, a merchant of Genoese origin[1]
- Recent conservation leadmuseum reported non-invasive MA-XRF scans in February 2026; interpretation of results pending publication[2]
Contents
- The Instant of Lazarus's Return
- Christ in Shadow and the Force of Light
- Martha, Mary and the Witnesses
- Giovan Battista de' Lazzari's Commission
- What the Gospel Says
- The Exhumed-Corpse Story as Legend
- Conservation and the Sicilian Comparison
- Frequently Asked Questions
The Instant of Lazarus's Return
Lazarus lies in the centre as men support his body. His arms spread wide at the moment he begins to respond. The museum describes one sister bending so close that she seems to breathe life toward his partly open mouth and nose. Around them, attendants and witnesses react under a light that arrives from the left.[1]
Caravaggio represents a transition rather than a completed triumphal display. The body still has the weight of death, and the people holding it must work against gravity. Yet the opened arms and light suggest a new movement. This physical ambiguity makes the miracle visible as an event unfolding before the viewer, not as a static emblem.[1]
The huge canvas gives the figures room to gather around the body. Dark upper space and a clustered lower action create a visual pressure also found, in a different narrative, in The Burial of Saint Lucy. The subjects should not be merged: in Syracuse a saint is being buried; in Messina a man is being called back to life.[1][3]
A full image should show the entire arrangement before any detail view. The height and width are important to how the light and gestures move through the picture. A tight crop of Lazarus alone would omit Christ's call and the witnesses' responses.
Christ in Shadow and the Force of Light
The museum notes an unusual choice: Christ stands in shadow, causing life through a gesture of his right index finger. A viewer may expect the miracle worker to be the brightest figure. Here the eye is carried instead toward Lazarus and those who encounter his revival. The light falls from the left and becomes a protagonist in the museum's interpretation.[1]
Christ's darkness does not make him absent. His arm and pointing hand direct the action. The contrast between a relatively shadowed source of the miracle and a lit body receiving it is an important compositional decision. A detailed annotation could connect the hand to Lazarus's arms and the line of light, if a documented high-resolution image permits it.
The owner account mentions bones in the foreground, near Christ's left hand. It presents a possible link between those bones and reported local relic discoveries as a new hypothesis, not a settled iconographic code. The visible bones can be described without requiring acceptance of that theory.[1]
Caravaggio's Adoration of the Shepherds in the same museum also concentrates ordinary bodies under selective light, but the humble birth scene is smaller and emotionally quieter. The museum does not settle whether it was made before or after this delivered Lazarus canvas.[4]
Martha, Mary and the Witnesses
The Gospel of John names Martha and Mary as Lazarus's sisters. The museum identifies women bending toward him and describes one face close to his mouth. Their gestures keep the human relationships of the story present amid the large-scale miracle.[1][5]
Other figures look toward the light or toward Lazarus. The museum suggests that one praying profile may be a self-portrait of Caravaggio. That is an identification hypothesis. A face's resemblance in a large crowd, especially from a reproduction, should not be asserted as certain without a documented comparison.[1]
The picture's witnesses do different things. Some work to hold the body, some mourn or marvel, and some direct their attention elsewhere. This variety prevents the event from becoming a uniform chorus. The viewer can move among the reactions, discovering the central action from multiple angles.
The Detroit Martha and Mary Magdalene is a separate Caravaggio painting and a different biblical or devotional context. Similar saint names do not make it a preparatory portrait of the sisters here; no source used in this brief establishes that relation.[6]
Giovan Battista de' Lazzari's Commission
The Messina museum names Giovan Battista de' Lazzari as commissioner and gives a delivery date of 10 June 1609. The work originally came from the church of Santi Pietro e Paolo dei Pisani used by the Crociferi fathers, later destroyed in 1908. It entered the civic, then national, museum in 1879.[1]
The museum considers it very likely that the resurrection subject was chosen in honour of the patron's surname, Lazzari. “Very likely” is still an interpretation of patronage, not a surviving instruction in the man's own words. The Crociferi's work with the sick and dying may also have made the theme apt. These explanations can stand alongside one another with their qualification visible.[1]
The patron and site make the work local. It was not simply a late painting shipped through Messina. It answered a merchant, a religious community and a city in which devotion and civic identity met. The exact sequence with the Capuchin Adoration remains open in the museum's own account.[1][4]
The museum's statement that the painting arrived in its predecessor institution in 1879 must not be confused with the date its church was destroyed. The painting was in civic care before the 1908 earthquake destroyed the original building.[1]
What the Gospel Says
John 11 tells that Lazarus of Bethany had been dead four days when Jesus came to the tomb. Martha and Mary grieved, Jesus called out to Lazarus, and the dead man emerged wrapped in burial cloths. Caravaggio selects the visually charged instant of physical response and human support rather than illustrating every exchange in the chapter.[5]
The source text matters because it names the sisters and makes the four-day delay part of the miracle. Yet the painted image does not need a literal count of four days in an inscription to convey the threshold between death and life. The bones, weight and gestures supply visual equivalents for that subject.[1][5]
Luke also has a different Lazarus in a parable; that is not this episode. A reader looking up the painting's narrative should go to John 11, which the museum itself cites. This kind of precise text link is more useful than a vague “from the Bible” label.[1][5]
The Exhumed-Corpse Story as Legend
The museum recounts a story from Susinno, a later historian: Caravaggio supposedly had a corpse exhumed for realism and threatened models with a dagger until they held it. This is colourful reception history, not a verified account of how the canvas was produced. It should be introduced with “Susinno later claimed,” not “Caravaggio did.”[1]
The painting's convincing bodily weight does not prove the tale. Artists can study living models, prior images and their own observation without staging the exact event depicted. The anecdote may tell us how later viewers imagined Caravaggio's fierce realism; it cannot replace technical or archival evidence.[1]
Other proposed interpretations in the museum text are likewise open: the possible self-portrait in a witness, the patron's name shaping the subject, and a connection to reported local miraculous relics. Each has a different basis and should be presented at the level of confidence the source gives it. The delivery date, dimensions and collection are much firmer.[1]
Conservation and the Sicilian Comparison
In February 2026, the Museo Regionale Accascina reported completed non-invasive MA-XRF high-resolution scans of the Lazarus. The notice says the findings will enable further study and describes a monitoring project for conservation and public access. It does not publish a finished pigment map or a definitive revised attribution. No such result should be inferred from the mere fact of scanning.[2]
The same museum holds the Adoration of the Shepherds, dated 1608–09, and the Syracuse Burial of Saint Lucy belongs to the broader Sicilian itinerary. Birth, burial and rising form a compelling thematic sequence for readers, but they were separate commissions. The documents do not establish a planned trilogy.[3][4]
Explore the Caravaggio collection
| Name | Date | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Adoration of the Shepherds by Caravaggio: The Messina Nativity | 1608–09; precise order relative to Resurrection of Lazarus remains unresolved | Artwork |
| Amor Victorious by Caravaggio | 1601–02 in the Berlin owner record | Artwork |
| Bacchus by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painting | about 1598, according to the Uffizi | Artwork |
| Basket of Fruit by Caravaggio | after 1597, probably around the turn of the seventeenth century, according to the Ambrosiana | Artwork |
| Boy Bitten by a Lizard: Caravaggio's London Painting | about 1594–95 in the National Gallery's current catalogue; URL suffix “1596” is inherited | Artwork |
| Boy Bitten by a Lizard: The Florence Version Attributed to Caravaggio | disputed; Longhi's catalogue record preserves historical 1592–93 and other proposed ranges, including c.1597 | Artwork |
| Boy Peeling Fruit by Caravaggio: The Royal Collection Painting | about 1592–93 in the owner's current exhibition record | Artwork |
| Boy Peeling Fruit in Florence: A Derivation from Caravaggio | — | Artwork |
| Boy with a Basket of Fruit by Caravaggio | about 1595 in the Galleria Borghese catalogue | Artwork |
| Caravaggio Paintings in Rome: Churches, Museums and a Practical Route | — | Guide |
| Caravaggio Quotes: What the Documents Actually Record | — | Guide |
| Caravaggio's Lute Player: The Del Monte Painting Once Shown at the Met | about 1596–97 in the Met catalogue | Artwork |
| Caravaggio's Painting Technique: Grounds, Incisions, Revisions and Light | — | Guide |
| Christ at the Column by Caravaggio: The Rouen Flagellation | c.1606 in the owner caption; owner prose gives 1606–07 | Artwork |
| Christ on the Mount of Olives by Caravaggio: The Lost Berlin Painting | — | Artwork |
| Conversion on the Way to Damascus by Caravaggio | about 1601 in the Roma Capitale church record | Artwork |
| Crowning with Thorns by Caravaggio: The Vienna Painting | about 1603 in the 2019 KHM record; “1607” is an inherited URL suffix | Artwork |
| Crowning with Thorns in Prato: Attributed to Caravaggio | about 1602–03 in the collection presentation | Artwork |
| David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio: The Borghese Painting | 1606–07 or 1609–10 in the Galleria Borghese catalogue; the later Naples period is favoured by many scholars, while the owner keeps the question open | Artwork |
| David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio: The Prado Painting | about 1600 in Prado material; “1599” survives only in the legacy URL | Artwork |
| David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio: The Vienna Painting | about 1600–01 in the KHM's 2019 exhibition record; “1607” is a legacy route label | Artwork |
| Did Caravaggio Make Drawings? What Survives and What Paintings Reveal | — | Guide |
| Ecce Homo: Caravaggio's Madrid Rediscovery and the Genoa Painting | — | Artwork |
| John the Baptist in Caravaggio's Paintings: A Guide to the Different Versions | — | Artwork |
| Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio | beginning of the seventeenth century in the owning museum's account; about 1599–1600 in the Kimbell's 2025 loan label; around 1602 in one specialist catalogue | Artwork |
| Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto: Caravaggio's Ludovisi Ceiling | about 1597; the archive connects the work with Cardinal del Monte's 1597 commission | Artwork |
| Madonna and Child with Saint Anne by Caravaggio: The Palafrenieri Altarpiece | 1605 in the Galleria Borghese object field; completed and delivered by 8 April 1606 | Artwork |
| Madonna of Loreto by Caravaggio: The Pilgrims at Sant'Agostino | broadly c.1604–06; institutional records differ slightly in their starting year | Artwork |
| Madonna of the Rosary by Caravaggio: The Vienna Altarpiece | around 1603 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum's object record | Artwork |
| Martha and Mary Magdalene by Caravaggio: The Detroit Painting | about 1598 in the Detroit Institute of Arts record | Artwork |
| Medusa by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painted Shield | 1596–98 in the Uffizi's virtual exhibition; specialist research reports the shield delivered to the Medici wardrobe by 7 September 1598 | Artwork |
| Narcissus, Attributed to Caravaggio | dependent on attribution; the Zeri catalogue gives a broad 1610–50 range under Spadarino | Artwork |
| Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence: Caravaggio's Missing Painting | somewhere in 1600–09 in the parliamentary report; a specific 1609 execution and place remain debated | Artwork |
| Penitent Mary Magdalene by Caravaggio | 1597 in the owner's catalogue, during Caravaggio's early Roman activity | Artwork |
| Portrait of a Courtesan: Caravaggio's Lost Berlin Portrait | Berlin's data field says c.1590, while its own text compares a Caravaggio work of c.1598; precise date unresolved | Artwork |
| Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and His Page by Caravaggio | — | Artwork |
| Portrait of Fra Antonio Martelli? Caravaggio's Pitti Knight of Malta | 1608 in the Restituzioni object heading; within Caravaggio's Malta period | Artwork |
| Portrait of Maffeo Barberini: The Seated Corsini Painting | c.1596–97 in the national catalogue | Artwork |
| Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini: Caravaggio's Newly Acquired Painting | around the late 1590s / age thirty; “1598” in the inherited address is approximate, not an exact document date | Artwork |
| Portrait of Pope Paul V: A Caravaggio Attribution and a Borghese Copy | — | Artwork |
| Prints After Caravaggio: Who Made Them and What They Show | — | Guide |
| Reclining Saint John the Baptist: A Disputed Caravaggio Attribution | often proposed for the artist's final years; the later museum list does not give a precise year. | Artwork |
| Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Caravaggio | about 1597 in the owner's catalogue | Artwork |
| Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Caravaggio: The Thyssen Painting | about 1598–99 in the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza catalogue | Artwork |
| Saint Francis in Meditation by Caravaggio: The Cremona Painting | 1603–06 in the owner account; c.1605–06 in a KHM exhibition caption | Artwork |
| Saint Francis in Prayer: Caravaggio's Carpineto Painting | 1606 in a 2016–17 exhibition work list | Artwork |
| Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy by Caravaggio | c.1595–96 in the owner wall text | Artwork |
| Saint Jerome in Meditation: Caravaggio's Montserrat Painting | 1605 in the owner record; an owner publication reports scholarship placing it about 1605–06 | Artwork |
| Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio: The Borghese Painting | c.1606 in the owner catalogue; the “1605” URL suffix is inherited | Artwork |
| Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio: The Malta Painting | around 1607–08; foundation dates Malaspina's commission to 1608 | Artwork |
| Saint John in the Wilderness at Toledo Cathedral | exact 1598 not established by the cited cathedral account. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at Galleria Corsini, Rome | about 1606 in the national record; older proposals ranged from the late 1590s onward. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at the Capitoline Museums, Rome | 1602. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at the Galleria Borghese | 1609–10 in the current Borghese record. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at the Spring: The Bonello Painting in Malta | early seventeenth century in the institutional account; a precise 1608 is not established there. | Artwork |
| Saint Matthew and the Angel: Caravaggio's Lost First Altarpiece | — | Artwork |
| Salome Receives the Head of John the Baptist: Caravaggio's London Painting | about 1609–10, likely late Naples period in the Gallery's account | Artwork |
| Salome with the Head of John the Baptist: Caravaggio's Madrid Painting | — | Artwork |
| Sleeping Cupid by Caravaggio: The Painting Made in Malta | about 1608, Malta period | Artwork |
| Still Life with Fruit on a Stone Ledge: Is It by Caravaggio? | — | Artwork |
| Supper at Emmaus (1606): Caravaggio's Brera Painting | — | Artwork |
| The Annunciation by Caravaggio in Nancy | c.1607–10 in the collection record; 1608–10 in the museum's restoration account | Artwork |
| The Basel Saint John the Baptist: Once Labelled Caravaggio, Now Maíno | about 1608–10 in that schedule, rather than the legacy URL's 1600. | Artwork |
| The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist by Caravaggio | about 1608; installed in the Oratory on 29 August 1608 | Artwork |
| The Burial of Saint Lucy by Caravaggio in Syracuse | 1608, during Caravaggio's Syracuse stay | Artwork |
| The Calling of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio | about 1599–1600 | Artwork |
| The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew by Caravaggio | about 1602–04 in the Trust's object text | Artwork |
| The Cardsharps by Caravaggio | about 1596–97 in the Kimbell's current object record | Artwork |
| The Conversion of Saint Paul: Caravaggio's Odescalchi Panel | commissioned in 1600; painted around 1600–01 | Artwork |
| The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew by Caravaggio | 1606–07 | Artwork |
| The Crucifixion of Saint Peter by Caravaggio | about 1601 | Artwork |
| The Death of the Virgin by Caravaggio | commissioned 1601; completed late 1605 or early 1606, according to the Louvre | Artwork |
| The Denial of Saint Peter by Caravaggio | 1610 | Artwork |
| The Doria Pamphilj Saint John the Baptist: A Second Youth with a Ram | linked compositionally to the Capitoline 1602 picture; an exact production year for this canvas is not established by the owner pages used here. | Artwork |
| The Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio: The Vatican Deposition | about 1600–04 in Vatican Museums publication material | Artwork |
| The Flagellation of Christ by Caravaggio: The Capodimonte Altarpiece | around 1607, in the first Naples period | Artwork |
| The Fortune Teller by Caravaggio: The Louvre Version and Its Roman Counterpart | — | Artwork |
| The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist by Caravaggio | early 1600s in the Met catalogue; no more exact owner date asserted here | Artwork |
| The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio | about 1601 in the SPSG presentation | Artwork |
| The Inspiration of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio | usually 1602; also catalogued 1602–03, for the installed final altarpiece | Artwork |
| The Lute Player by Caravaggio: The Hermitage Painting | about 1596 in the Hermitage collection publication; the Hermitage Friends restoration page gives about 1595–96 | Artwork |
| The Magdalen in Ecstasy: Caravaggio, Copies and a Disputed Original | — | Artwork |
| The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio | 1599–1600; unveiled with The Calling in 1600 | Artwork |
| The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula by Caravaggio | — | Artwork |
| The Musicians by Caravaggio | 1597 | Artwork |
| The Resurrection of Lazarus by Caravaggio in Messina | 1609; delivered 10 June 1609 in the owner account | Artwork |
| The Sacrifice of Isaac by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi: A Former Caravaggio Attribution | about 1615–17 in the Nicholas Hall catalogue; “1598” is an inherited URL label, not the accepted date | Artwork |
| The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painting | about 1603 in the Uffizi catalogue | Artwork |
| The Seven Works of Mercy by Caravaggio | 1606–07, according to the Pio Monte | Artwork |
| The Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio: The London Painting | 1601 | Artwork |
| The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio | 1602 | Artwork |
| The Toulouse *Judith Beheading Holofernes*: A Caravaggio Attribution Debate | c.1606–07 if identified with the recorded Naples work; that identification is debated | Artwork |
| Young Sick Bacchus by Caravaggio | about 1595 in the Galleria Borghese catalogue | Artwork |
| Youth with a Ram: Why Caravaggio's Saint John Looks So Unusual | — | Artwork |
No matching pages found.
Discussion
Share a close observation about The Resurrection of Lazarus by Caravaggio in Messina or a source that clarifies its history.
Which detail changes your reading?
Is there a collection record or document worth comparing?
What remains uncertain?
Join the Conversation
Frequently Asked Questions
When was The Resurrection of Lazarus completed?
The Messina museum says it was delivered 10 June 1609.[1]
Who commissioned it?
The museum names Giovan Battista de' Lazzari, a merchant of Genoese origin.[1]
Where is the painting?
It belongs to the Museo Regionale Accascina in Messina, whose object page lists it in the Sala Caravaggio. Check current display before visiting.[1]
Did Caravaggio exhume a corpse for it?
That is a later story told by Susinno and repeated as anecdote by the museum. It is not a verified production fact.[1]
References
- Museo Regionale Accascina, Caravaggio, Resurrezione di Lazzaro, object record.
- Museo Regionale Accascina, February 2026 non-invasive diagnostic study of Resurrection of Lazarus.
- Basilica Santuario Santa Lucia al Sepolcro, Caravaggio's Burial of Saint Lucy.
- Museo Regionale Accascina, Caravaggio, Natività / Adorazione dei pastori.
- Vatican, John 11: the raising of Lazarus.
- Detroit Institute of Arts, Martha and Mary Magdalene.
