Skip to main content

Caravaggio




Grand Master of the Baroque, Michelangelo Merisi was born on September 29, 1571 at his namesake town of Caravaggio east of Milan. It's fair to say that he was among the first true "rebels" of the art world, having lost both parents at an early age and after his training in Milan under Simone Peterzano, (who had trained under Titian in Venice) Caravaggio moved to Rome and lived on the streets until he could find work. During this period Caravaggio would have witnessed the Mannerism of the day waning and naturalism beginning to make a comeback. What separates Caravaggio from the Renaissance, Mannerism or even Venetians is of course the low-key mood of his work, taking the chiaroscuro of Leonardo to the limits of darkness, away from the ideal and artificial. The poverty, disease and crime that must have occurred during that period in Rome was clearly enough to contrast with the glowing saints and madonnas in painting of that era. Caravaggio would find this hypocrisy unbearable and distasteful. So, in this sense, Caravaggio becomes the first realist painter, depicting religious subject matter in a dramatic light but using real-life people as models. Caravaggio was also the first to depict violent acts from the Bible in highly realistic detail, with blood and all, to heighten the severity of the story behind it.

In the painting above, Judith decapitates the Assyrian General Holofernes to save her people. Up until this point most paintings portrayed Judith holding the head of Holofernes on a plate and looking at the viewer innocently but here, Caravaggio captures the horrible act midway, and the expression on her face is clearly one of disgust and horror at what she has done. She is not innocent here, and she knows it. Yet note how he manages to pose her in a graceful, Renaissance-like dignity. Caravaggio must have used himself as a reference in the mirror to create that horrifying face of Holofernes. Caravaggio uses red drapery as a pointing device to the head of Holofernes to heighten the drama and blood. Everything else is black behind them. Note the eagerness of the old woman beside her, with cloth in hands. Impressionists should take note here, in that even to this day so many artists and art instructors tell their students never to use black in their paintings— baloney. Look at how much drama is created here, and how different this scene would appear with any other color behind them. Black not only sets the stage, it actually brings to life the skin tones and costume of the subjects surrounding it in a way that no other color can. Warms are rich and deep, and the cools are made even more cooler still by this contrast.







St. John the Baptist, ca.1604

Note the youthfulness, the rebelliousness of this young man, a sort of self-portrait of Caravaggio himself, if not physically then psychologically. The loner. The outcast. The martyr. Here once again the drapery heightens the subject, in this case it underlines the posture of St. John. Note how he is lit almost by a spotlight from above, a tragic character on a stage, with that dark shadow falling on his torso. One of many versions of John the Baptist painted by Caravaggio, some ranging from toward the homoerotic to this deeply troubled youth, it was a theme he identified with throughout his life, and would prove to be somewhat prophetic in his own short, troubled life also.








La Vocazion di San Matteo,ca.1600

I remember first seeing this painting in my late teens, early twenties, and being totally engrossed by it. Caravaggio actually used light itself to tell a biblical story. I cannot imagine how incredibly modern this painting must have seemed when it was first displayed. Saint Matthew, Saint Peter and Christ in a local pub! The sheer nerve, the audacity...in an age where people were guillotined and burned at the stake by the Inquisition for trivialities and here a young painter from Milan shocks all of Rome with this scene. I can only imagine the amount of explanation required to defend Caravaggio. What is interesting about this composition is the primarily horizontal subjects, yet he uses foreshortening and the "tennis" effect of shifting our eyes back and forth from the group at the table to Christ and back. The room is empty and dark. There is some debate as to whom Matthew actually is here, the old man pointing to himself or the young man at the end looking down at the coins on the table. The sword of the young man on the right of the table points toward the old man, but the old man seems to be pointing at the youth on the left looking at the coins. I believe Caravaggio here is implying the Church's beliefs and it's fixation with money are at odds, and yet both Christ and St. Peter seem to point at both of them essentially. Religion and money go hand in hand, at least in the case of the Roman Catholic Church.








Amor Vincet Omnia,ca.1602

Note here Caravaggio's genius for the still-life...musical instruments, sheet music, glimmering black armour, not to mention highly realistic wings on the back of Cupid. Caravaggio seems to ridicule the entire concept of Cupid, portrayed here insolent and almost laughing at itself, far from the idealistic Roman god of love from Roman mythology. Although appearing homoerotic, it is doubtful Caravaggio would have implied this. Cupid is typically depicted as an innocent cherub or baby angel, yet here he is a mischievous prepubescent boy who cannot help himself getting into trouble. His skin tones and anatomy here are superb. It is entirely possible Caravaggio may have depicted a slightly older Cupid to reveal an unspoken pedophilia lingering in the Church itself, but this can only be speculation. Caravaggio however, was a very cynical man.






Sette opere di Misericordia, 1607

Read more about the painting here. Note the brilliant composition here. Dominant horizontals with foreshortening in the center, with the top and bottom figures twisting and facing opposite directions, and the top figures containing an almost mirror-image angel with Madonna and child. Caravaggio's take on a symbolic theme, with his deeply dramatic and realistic figures, is enthralling. The eye doesn't know where to look first. And yet it flows in all directions.





La Deposizione di Cristo, 1603

Another brilliant composition, this time utilizing two-point perspective of the floor, and with Christ's body as the dominant horizontal. He uses red again to heighten the drama, this time however using green in the same figure holding Christ. Caravaggio really emphasizes the physicality of Christ in the struggle the two figures have in carrying his body. The influence of Raphael's Transfiguration is obvious here, even if Caravaggio's dislike of too much color is present in all his work.






Incredulity of St. Thomas, ca.1602

A powerful yet simple painting, this is a story everyone knows from the New Testament. Here, Caravaggio emphasizes the skeptical mind, the need for empirical proof, and the lack of halo around Christ who is now risen. This aptly demonstrates Caravaggio's realism also, from a history of icons to idealism to bare facts and unpleasant truth...and it is hard to know whether Caravaggio actually believed in God or whether it was just a way to make a living as an artist. I suspect the latter, but in the process of his art he unwittingly changed art.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

More Old Master Drawings

There is nothing in all the world more beautiful or significant of the laws of the universe than the nude human body. Robert Henri Charles Louis Müller , A Standing Female Nude Leaning Against an Arch, ca.1864 Once again I decided to talk about some Old Master drawings and delve into the thinking behind how these drawings may have been created and the knowledge of the artist. In the above drawing by Müller, done in sanguine with white chalk highlights, the figure is drawn from a low view-point, with her body twisting toward her left side while resting on one knee. Note how Müller alternates the bent right leg with the bent left arm to create dynamic contrast. The right arm is also foreshortened and partially in shadow. Expressing power and femininity, this is a study that is Renaissance in spirit, even Mannerist, revealing the female nude as sculptural yet always graceful. Anton Raphael Mengs , Seated male nude viewed from the back, 1755 One of several Academic nu

The Genius of Ramon Casas

Open Air Interior, 1892 Born on January 4, 1866 in Barcelona, Ramon Casas i Carbó was a Spanish portrait painter and graphic designer. He was a contemporary of Santiago Rusiñol , both founders of the Spanish art movement modernisme . Where Santiago painted pensive interiors and moody landscapes, Casas focused more on the portrait and figure with a penchant for costume and posture. His palette often consists of more muted tones with vibrant color accents. Casas enjoyed a lengthy and prominent career throughout Europe and South America where he often exhibited in shows with his friend Rusiñol. In Open Air Interior above, Casas encapsulates a quiet moment outdoors during tea time. I love these kind of paintings for their calm visual intensity. The way that man sits in his chair, lost in thought while his wife carefully stirs her tea...this is the kind of mindfulness in the subjects that makes us, the viewer, envision ourselves in this scene. Casas paints the far wall of the house

Isaac Levitan, Russian Poet of Nature

Before the Storm, 1890 Born August 30, 1860, Isaac Ilyich Levitan was a Russian landscape painter. Born in Congress Poland to a Jewish family, Levitan would study art in Moscow where he would become friends with Anton Chekov and his brother, Nikolay who was also an artist. Levitan's work has a unique mood that is very distinct from the Impressionism of France and the Classicism of Russia...sometimes compared to Monet but still different. Levitan has a rare presence with astute attention to detail and a fascination with light at different times of day. At times highly accurate, while in his more personal work deeply Impressionistic and imbued with rich tone and color. There is something about Levitan that lingers in your mind long after seeing his work...in a way that is individual and personal, not attached to a specific genre or movement, but to the world around him. In Before the Storm , Levitan captures a moment so stunning it seems to defy words...of sunlight piercing