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four gospels. Caravaggio followed certain stage directions, but ignored others. According to Matthew, at the time appointed for Christ’s arrest, ‘Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.’ (Matthew 26:47). John adds a detail crucial to Caravaggio’s nocturnal conception of the scene, equipping Judas and his men ‘with lanterns and torches’ (John 18:3). Mark gives the most economical account of the treacherous kiss given to Christ by Judas: ‘And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely. And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him. And they laid their hands on him, and took him’ (Mark 14:44–6). Only in Luke could Caravaggio have found the idea that Christ showed his foreknowledge of Judas’s treachery by flinching at the kiss: ‘Judas drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?’ (Luke 23:48).

Despite his academic prejudices, Bellori often responded instinctively to the sheer humanity and psychological depth of Caravaggio’s painted dramas. His is by some distance the most eloquent early account of the picture: ‘Judas is shown after the kiss with his hand on the Lord’s shoulder; a soldier in full armour extends his arms and his ironclad hand towards the chest of the Lord, who stands still, patiently and humbly, his hands crossed before him, as John runs away behind with outstretched arms. Caravaggio rendered the rusty armour of the soldier accurately with head and face covered by a helmet, his profile partially visible. Behind him a lantern is raised and we see the heads of two other armed men.’36

Earlier artists had often envisaged the betrayal as a chaotic crowd scene, confusing the eye with a multitude of soldiers and panicking disciples. Caravaggio’s new technique of emphatic chiaroscuro was the perfect editing device for avoiding such unnecessary complications. He used it here as a ruthless means of exclusion, spotlighting the figures at the very centre of the drama and casting everything else into deepest shadow. In his interpretation, the whole story becomes an elemental conflict between good and evil, innocence and malignity. The pale, delicate, emotionally sensitive face of Christ is set hard against the brutish, sunburned face of Judas. There is great sorrow, mingled with resignation, in Christ’s half-closed eyes. In the moment of betrayal, Judas seems to lament the fatal move he has only just made. He stares into space like a man possessed, as if he is already haunted by the guilt that will soon drive him to suicide.

To this drama of juxtaposed faces, the painter has added a subplot of hands. Judas reaches out to grasp Christ with his left hand, the sinister side. Christ instinctively shrinks from the clutching embrace. Below, isolated and emphasized by a bright pool of light, Christ’s own hands are clasped in a gesture of great pathos. His fingers are entwined, palms pushed away, in a movement that speaks at once of regret and acceptance of his fate. It is a detail that suggests the influence of Cardinal Mattei: the Franciscans placed the concept of Abnegatio, the complete denial of self and dedication to others, at the centre of their teaching. According to the Franciscan ethic of the Imitatio Christi, ‘the imitation of Christ’, his calm acceptance of cruelty and torture was a constant source of wonder and inspiration. Caravaggio’s Betrayal of Christ is one of the most powerfully moving images of that Christian ideal.37 It is a work that allies Caravaggio, once again, with the deepest strains of severity in Counter-Reformation spirituality.

But there is more to the eloquently compressed composition of the picture than the figures of Christ and Judas alone. To the left, just behind Christ, a terrified disciple runs away into the night. Two soldiers approach from the other side to make the arrest. They are grim and impersonal,