Identity of Matthew
There is some debate over which man in the picture is Saint Matthew, as the surprised gesture of the bearded man at the table can be read in two ways.
Most writers on the painting assume Saint Matthew to be the bearded man, and see him to be pointing at himself, as if to ask "Me?" in response to Christ's summons. A more recent interpretation proposes that the bearded man is in fact pointing at the young man at the end of the table, whose head is slumped. In this reading, the bearded man is asking "Him?" in response to Christ's summons, and the painting is depicting the moment immediately before Matthew raises his head to see Christ. Other writers describe the painting as deliberately ambiguous.
Read more about this topic: The Calling Of St Matthew (Caravaggio)
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