# The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist is unveiled for Valletta’s co-cathedral in 1608 as Caravaggio’s largest signed Malta altarpiece

Date: 1608

## The fact

Britannica and Order-of-Malta heritage date the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist to 1608 for St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta, signed f. Michelangelo. Knights share the commission. His later expulsion is a neighbouring justice row, not this painting.

It is one event.

## Context

Malta knighthood and expulsion neighbour this.

[Caravaggio](/people/caravaggio)’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below. Sharing a field with them is not a reason to drop a documented act, and it is not a reason to assign later consequences done in the name after death.

Knights Hospitaller patronage before Caravaggio’s imprisonment and flight.

Named person as heading of the dated public instrument. Later editors, museums, printers, or offices share publication. Complex where later carriers are the surviving public file.

## Evidence and sources

Britannica and Met/National Gallery artist narratives independently place the 1608 Beheading in Valletta.

Official or archival record: Britannica — Caravaggio (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Caravaggio; Encyclopaedia Britannica).

## Significance

A monumental signed sacred altarpiece is an edu path for liturgical seeing.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 1608 Valletta Beheading altarpiece. Not established: that knighthood purity trials are this canvas.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Established here: a sourced, dated public instrument with a named contribution by Caravaggio.

They are not a public rating.

Caravaggio did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act. A portrait or conventional bust is not this mechanism. Allegation, reconstruction, and established occurrence stay distinct. Feast-related unveiling season; keep expulsion separate. Keep the carrier date of later English distinct from the received historical year stored in the date field. Do not read a later English edition as a recovered autograph of Caravaggio.
Caravaggio did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act. A portrait or conventional bust is not this mechanism. Allegation, reconstruction, and established occurrence stay distinct. Feast-related unveiling season; keep expulsion separate. Keep the carrier date of later English distinct from the received historical year stored in the date field. Do not read a later English edition as a recovered autograph of Caravaggio.

## People

- Caravaggio: https://factrail.ai/people/caravaggio

## Drivers

- Digital Learning Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/edu-digital-learning-access

## Sources

- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Caravaggio
- https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/crvg/hd_crvg.htm

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/cv-beheading-baptist-1608