David and Goliath

David holds the head out towards us and looks at it with something close to pity. The face of Goliath is generally taken to be Caravaggio's own.

Caravaggio had killed a man in Rome in 1606 and was living in exile under sentence of death. He painted this picture for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who could obtain his pardon. Read like that, the painter is offering his own head.