ALONZO RODRIGUEZ | The beheading of Saint John the Baptist

Palozzi collection, Rome;

Manuel Gonzalez, Madrid.

F. Negri Arnoldi, 'Alonzo Rodriguez: Un caravaggesco contestato', in Prospettiva, 9, 1973, pp. 25–26, reproduced p. 22, fig. 9 and p. 23, fig. 10 (detail);

M. Marini, in Storia dell'arte italiana, F. Zeri & P. Fossati eds., part II, vol. II, p. 426;

V. Abbate et al., Caravaggio in Sicilia: Il suo tempo, il suo influsso, exh. cat., Bellomo 1984, p. 125–27.

Alonzo Rodriguez was the leading exponent of the Caravaggesque style active in Sicily. He was born in Messina, and travelled to Venice to study the works Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto. His departure from Venice to Rome was hastened by his becoming such a proficient imitator of Titian that he was accused of forgery in that town. He is recorded back in Messina by 1614 and is thought to have spent the rest of his career there.