Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610), famed for his use of chiaroscuro to create vivid emotional intensity, painted depictions of heroine and anti-hero in near succession. One celebrated a self-sacrificing female hero of Christian myth, while the other exposed a self-serving villainess—holding a head, no less.

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“The Last Caravaggio,” a new exhibition at the National Gallery in London, pairs these final mythological paintings in a striking storytelling feat about physical death and psychic revelation. On loan from the Gallerie d’Italia, Naples, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (1610), is on display alongside the gallery’s prized own Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist (1609-10).

“The National Gallery is exceptionally strong in its holdings of works by Caravaggio,” says Dr. Francesca Whitlum-Cooper, curator of the exhibition, in a statement. “With the generous loan of Martyrdom, visitors will be able to engage with late Caravaggio as we present this final painting to the public in London for the first time in a generation.”

Martyrdom is one rare piece to exhibit, especially given it was only authenticated as a genuine Caravaggio in 1980. The painting sits alongside Salome in a single quiet room at the gallery but is already attracting frenzied crowds to its station.

A handful of fragile historical documents feature alongside it, including a letter substantiating it as Caravaggio’s own posthumous painting. Dating from 1610, the letter was sent to his patron, Marco Antonio Doria, and confirms the final stages of Martyrdom’s commission.

At a time when other Renaissance painters were........

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