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On July 18, 1610, Caravaggio, Italian painter, died at the age of 38. From the article:
"Caravaggio
Caravaggio, or Michelangelo Merisi, was an Italian painter who is considered one of the fathers of modern painting.
Who Was Caravaggio?
Caravaggio was a controversial and influential Italian artist. He was orphaned at age 11 and apprenticed with a painter in Milan. He moved to Rome, where his work became popular for the tenebrism technique he used, which used shadow to emphasize lighter areas. His career, however, was short-lived. Caravaggio killed a man during a brawl and fled Rome. He died not long after, on July 18, 1610.
Early Years
Caravaggio, whose fiery masterpieces included "The Death of the Virgin" and "David with the Head of Goliath," and who inspired generations of artists, was born as Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in 1571 in Italy. The world he arrived in was violent and, at times, unstable. His birth came just a week before the Battle of Lepanto, a bloody conflict in which Turkish invaders were driven out of Christendom.
Not much is known about Caravaggio's early family life. His father, Fermo Merisi, was the steward and architect of the marquis of Caravaggio. When Caravaggio was six, the bubonic plague rolled through his life, killing almost everyone in his family, including his father.
According to writer Andrew Graham-Dixon, author of the 2011 biography "Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane," the artist's troubled adult years stemmed directly from that traumatic loss of his family. "He almost seems bound to transgress," Dixon writes. "It's almost like he cannot avoid transgressing. As soon as he's welcomed by authority, welcomed by the pope, welcomed by the Knights of Malta, he has to do something to screw it up. It's almost like a fatal flaw."
Orphaned, Caravaggio took to the streets and fell in with a group of "painters and swordsmen who lived by the motto nec spe, nec metu, 'without hope, without fear,'" wrote an earlier biographer.
At the age of 11, Caravaggio relocated to Milan and began apprenticing with the painter Simone Peterzano. In his late teens, perhaps as early as 1588, a penniless Caravaggio moved to Rome. There, to keep himself fed, Caravaggio found work assisting other painters, many of them far less talented than he. But as instability defined his existence, Caravaggio jumped from one job to the next.
Sometime around 1595, Caravaggio struck out on his own and started selling his paintings through a dealer. His work soon caught the attention of Cardinal Francesco del Monte, who adored Caravaggio's paintings and quickly set him up in his own house, with room, board and a pension.
A prolific painter, Caravaggio was known to work quickly, often starting and completing a painting in just two weeks. By the time he had come under the influence of del Monte, Caravaggio already had 40 works to his name. The lineup included "Boy with a Basket of Fruit," "The Young Bacchus" and "The Music Party."
Much of Caravaggio's early work featured chubby, pretty young boys done up as angels or lutenists or his favorite saint, John the Baptist. Many of the boys in the paintings are naked or loosely clothed. Caravaggio's only known assistant was a boy named Cecco, who appears in a number of Caravaggio's works and who may have also been his lover.
Widening Appeal
In 1597, Caravaggio was awarded the commission for the decoration of the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. It was an important and daunting assignment, charging the 26-year-old painter with the task of creating three large paintings depicting separate scenes from St. Matthew's life.
The three resulting works, "St. Matthew and the Angel," "The Calling of St. Matthew," and "The Martyrdom of St. Matthew," were finished in 1601, and together showed Caravaggio's remarkable range as an artist.
But these works also provoked much consternation from the church and public alike. In his execution of the work, Caravaggio eschewed the traditional worshipful depictions of the saints and presented St. Matthew in a far more realistic light. His first version of "St. Matthew and the Angel" caused so much angst among his patrons that he had to redo it.
For Caravaggio, however, the commission provided an exciting new direction for his painting, one in which he could lift traditional religious scenes and cast them with his own dark interpretation. His biblical scenes became populated with the prostitutes, beggars and thieves whom he had encountered on the streets of Rome.
In addition to some financial relief, the Contarelli Chapel commission also provided Caravaggio a wealth of exposure and work. His paintings from the next few years included "The Crucifixion of St. Peter," "The Conversion of St. Paul," "The Deposition of Christ" and his famous "Death of the Virgin." The latter, with its depiction of the Virgin Mary with a swollen belly and bared legs, packed so much of Caravaggio's style that it was turned away by the Carmelites and eventually landed in the hands of the Duke of Mantua.
Troubled Life
Controversy, though, only fueled Caravaggio's success. And as that success grew, so did the painter's own personal turmoil. He could be a violent man, with drastic mood swings and a love for drinking and gambling.
A frequent fighter, Caravaggio eventually served a short prison sentence in 1603 following another painter's complaint that Caravaggio had attacked him. But the next few years only saw Caravaggio's temper becoming hotter. His litany of assaults included throwing a plate of artichokes at a waiter in 1604, and attacking Roman guards with stones in 1605. Wrote one observer: "After a fortnight's work he will swagger about for a month or two with a sword at his side and a servant following him, from one ballcourt to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or an argument."
His violence finally erupted with force in 1606, when he killed a well-known Roman pimp named Ranuccio Tomassoni. Historians have long speculated about what was at the root of the crime. Some have suggested that it was over an unpaid debt, while others have claimed that it was the result of an argument over a game of tennis. More recently, historians, including Andrew Graham-Dixon, have pointed to Caravaggio's lust for Tomassoni's wife, Lavinia.
On The Run
Immediately following the murder, Caravaggio fled Rome and sought refuge in a host of other locations: Naples, Malta and Sicily, among others. But even as he fled from punishment for his crime, fame followed Caravaggio. In Malta, he was received into the Order of Malta as a Knight of Justice, an award that he was soon stripped of when the Order learned of the crime he had committed.
However, even as he fled, Caravaggio continued to work. In Naples, he painted "Madonna of the Rosary" for a fellow painter, and later "The Seven Works of Mercy" for the church of Pio Chapel of Monte della Misericordia.
In Malta, he created "Beheading of St. John the Baptist" for the cathedral in Valletta. In Messina, his work included "The Resurrection of Lazarus" and "The Adoration of the Shepherds," while in Palermo he painted the "Adoration with St. Francis and St. Lawrence."
One of Caravaggio's more shocking paintings from this period is "Resurrection," in which the painter revealed a less saintly, more bedraggled Jesus Christ escaping from his tomb in the middle of the night. This scene was no doubt inspired by events in Caravaggio's own life. By this time, Caravaggio had become a nervous wreck, always on the run and in constant fear for his life, so much so that he slept with his clothes on and with a dagger at his side.
Later Years
The murder that Caravaggio committed in 1606 was not the end of his violence. In July 1608, he attacked Fra Giovanni Rodomonte Roero, one of the most senior knights in the Order of St. John in Malta. Caravaggio was arrested and jailed for the assault but managed to escape just one month later.
According to Andrew Graham-Dixon's research, Roero did not put the attack behind him. In 1609, he followed Caravaggio to Naples and assaulted the painter outside a tavern, disfiguring his face.
The attack had a profound impact on Caravaggio's mental and physical state. His vision and brushwork suffered from the assault, as evidenced by two of his later paintings, "The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula" and "The Denial of Saint Peter."
In order to avoid punishment for murder, Caravaggio's only salvation could come from the pope, who had the power to pardon him. Most likely informed that friends were working on his behalf to secure his pardon, in 1610, Caravaggio began to make his way back to Rome. Sailing from Naples, he was arrested in Palo, where his boat had made a stop. Upon his release, he resumed his journey and eventually arrived at Port'Ercole, where he died just a few days later, on July 18, 1610.
For many years the exact cause of Caravaggio's death had been shrouded in mystery. But in 2010, a team of scientists who studied Caravaggio's remains discovered that his bones contained high levels of lead—levels high enough, they suspect, to have driven the painter mad. Lead poisoning is also suspected of having killed Francisco Goya.
Influence
Even though Caravaggio was shunned after his death, he eventually came to be recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern painting. His work greatly influenced so many future masters, from Diego Velazquez to Rembrandt. In Rome, in 2010, an exhibition of his work that marked the 400th anniversary of his death attracted more than 580,000 visitors."
"Caravaggio
Caravaggio, or Michelangelo Merisi, was an Italian painter who is considered one of the fathers of modern painting.
Who Was Caravaggio?
Caravaggio was a controversial and influential Italian artist. He was orphaned at age 11 and apprenticed with a painter in Milan. He moved to Rome, where his work became popular for the tenebrism technique he used, which used shadow to emphasize lighter areas. His career, however, was short-lived. Caravaggio killed a man during a brawl and fled Rome. He died not long after, on July 18, 1610.
Early Years
Caravaggio, whose fiery masterpieces included "The Death of the Virgin" and "David with the Head of Goliath," and who inspired generations of artists, was born as Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in 1571 in Italy. The world he arrived in was violent and, at times, unstable. His birth came just a week before the Battle of Lepanto, a bloody conflict in which Turkish invaders were driven out of Christendom.
Not much is known about Caravaggio's early family life. His father, Fermo Merisi, was the steward and architect of the marquis of Caravaggio. When Caravaggio was six, the bubonic plague rolled through his life, killing almost everyone in his family, including his father.
According to writer Andrew Graham-Dixon, author of the 2011 biography "Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane," the artist's troubled adult years stemmed directly from that traumatic loss of his family. "He almost seems bound to transgress," Dixon writes. "It's almost like he cannot avoid transgressing. As soon as he's welcomed by authority, welcomed by the pope, welcomed by the Knights of Malta, he has to do something to screw it up. It's almost like a fatal flaw."
Orphaned, Caravaggio took to the streets and fell in with a group of "painters and swordsmen who lived by the motto nec spe, nec metu, 'without hope, without fear,'" wrote an earlier biographer.
At the age of 11, Caravaggio relocated to Milan and began apprenticing with the painter Simone Peterzano. In his late teens, perhaps as early as 1588, a penniless Caravaggio moved to Rome. There, to keep himself fed, Caravaggio found work assisting other painters, many of them far less talented than he. But as instability defined his existence, Caravaggio jumped from one job to the next.
Sometime around 1595, Caravaggio struck out on his own and started selling his paintings through a dealer. His work soon caught the attention of Cardinal Francesco del Monte, who adored Caravaggio's paintings and quickly set him up in his own house, with room, board and a pension.
A prolific painter, Caravaggio was known to work quickly, often starting and completing a painting in just two weeks. By the time he had come under the influence of del Monte, Caravaggio already had 40 works to his name. The lineup included "Boy with a Basket of Fruit," "The Young Bacchus" and "The Music Party."
Much of Caravaggio's early work featured chubby, pretty young boys done up as angels or lutenists or his favorite saint, John the Baptist. Many of the boys in the paintings are naked or loosely clothed. Caravaggio's only known assistant was a boy named Cecco, who appears in a number of Caravaggio's works and who may have also been his lover.
Widening Appeal
In 1597, Caravaggio was awarded the commission for the decoration of the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. It was an important and daunting assignment, charging the 26-year-old painter with the task of creating three large paintings depicting separate scenes from St. Matthew's life.
The three resulting works, "St. Matthew and the Angel," "The Calling of St. Matthew," and "The Martyrdom of St. Matthew," were finished in 1601, and together showed Caravaggio's remarkable range as an artist.
But these works also provoked much consternation from the church and public alike. In his execution of the work, Caravaggio eschewed the traditional worshipful depictions of the saints and presented St. Matthew in a far more realistic light. His first version of "St. Matthew and the Angel" caused so much angst among his patrons that he had to redo it.
For Caravaggio, however, the commission provided an exciting new direction for his painting, one in which he could lift traditional religious scenes and cast them with his own dark interpretation. His biblical scenes became populated with the prostitutes, beggars and thieves whom he had encountered on the streets of Rome.
In addition to some financial relief, the Contarelli Chapel commission also provided Caravaggio a wealth of exposure and work. His paintings from the next few years included "The Crucifixion of St. Peter," "The Conversion of St. Paul," "The Deposition of Christ" and his famous "Death of the Virgin." The latter, with its depiction of the Virgin Mary with a swollen belly and bared legs, packed so much of Caravaggio's style that it was turned away by the Carmelites and eventually landed in the hands of the Duke of Mantua.
Troubled Life
Controversy, though, only fueled Caravaggio's success. And as that success grew, so did the painter's own personal turmoil. He could be a violent man, with drastic mood swings and a love for drinking and gambling.
A frequent fighter, Caravaggio eventually served a short prison sentence in 1603 following another painter's complaint that Caravaggio had attacked him. But the next few years only saw Caravaggio's temper becoming hotter. His litany of assaults included throwing a plate of artichokes at a waiter in 1604, and attacking Roman guards with stones in 1605. Wrote one observer: "After a fortnight's work he will swagger about for a month or two with a sword at his side and a servant following him, from one ballcourt to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or an argument."
His violence finally erupted with force in 1606, when he killed a well-known Roman pimp named Ranuccio Tomassoni. Historians have long speculated about what was at the root of the crime. Some have suggested that it was over an unpaid debt, while others have claimed that it was the result of an argument over a game of tennis. More recently, historians, including Andrew Graham-Dixon, have pointed to Caravaggio's lust for Tomassoni's wife, Lavinia.
On The Run
Immediately following the murder, Caravaggio fled Rome and sought refuge in a host of other locations: Naples, Malta and Sicily, among others. But even as he fled from punishment for his crime, fame followed Caravaggio. In Malta, he was received into the Order of Malta as a Knight of Justice, an award that he was soon stripped of when the Order learned of the crime he had committed.
However, even as he fled, Caravaggio continued to work. In Naples, he painted "Madonna of the Rosary" for a fellow painter, and later "The Seven Works of Mercy" for the church of Pio Chapel of Monte della Misericordia.
In Malta, he created "Beheading of St. John the Baptist" for the cathedral in Valletta. In Messina, his work included "The Resurrection of Lazarus" and "The Adoration of the Shepherds," while in Palermo he painted the "Adoration with St. Francis and St. Lawrence."
One of Caravaggio's more shocking paintings from this period is "Resurrection," in which the painter revealed a less saintly, more bedraggled Jesus Christ escaping from his tomb in the middle of the night. This scene was no doubt inspired by events in Caravaggio's own life. By this time, Caravaggio had become a nervous wreck, always on the run and in constant fear for his life, so much so that he slept with his clothes on and with a dagger at his side.
Later Years
The murder that Caravaggio committed in 1606 was not the end of his violence. In July 1608, he attacked Fra Giovanni Rodomonte Roero, one of the most senior knights in the Order of St. John in Malta. Caravaggio was arrested and jailed for the assault but managed to escape just one month later.
According to Andrew Graham-Dixon's research, Roero did not put the attack behind him. In 1609, he followed Caravaggio to Naples and assaulted the painter outside a tavern, disfiguring his face.
The attack had a profound impact on Caravaggio's mental and physical state. His vision and brushwork suffered from the assault, as evidenced by two of his later paintings, "The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula" and "The Denial of Saint Peter."
In order to avoid punishment for murder, Caravaggio's only salvation could come from the pope, who had the power to pardon him. Most likely informed that friends were working on his behalf to secure his pardon, in 1610, Caravaggio began to make his way back to Rome. Sailing from Naples, he was arrested in Palo, where his boat had made a stop. Upon his release, he resumed his journey and eventually arrived at Port'Ercole, where he died just a few days later, on July 18, 1610.
For many years the exact cause of Caravaggio's death had been shrouded in mystery. But in 2010, a team of scientists who studied Caravaggio's remains discovered that his bones contained high levels of lead—levels high enough, they suspect, to have driven the painter mad. Lead poisoning is also suspected of having killed Francisco Goya.
Influence
Even though Caravaggio was shunned after his death, he eventually came to be recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern painting. His work greatly influenced so many future masters, from Diego Velazquez to Rembrandt. In Rome, in 2010, an exhibition of his work that marked the 400th anniversary of his death attracted more than 580,000 visitors."
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Caravaggio ~ Robert Hughes Full Documentary
Fantastic biography of the great Italian painter.
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that on July 18, 1610 Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi better known as Caravaggio, died at the age of 38.
Caravaggio ~ Robert Hughes Full Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbCtoTntfEY
Images:
1. 1593-1594 Caravaggio Self-Portrait as Bacchus_Sick Bacchus - "It is probable that Caravaggio executed this self-portrait whilst in the employment of frescoist Giuseppe Cesari and the painting's carefully worked still life elements demonstrates the influence of Cesari's tutelage."
2. 1593-1994 Caravaggio painting Boy Bitten by a Lizard - "Here, a young boy, an example of the tousled, curly-haired youth who populated many of Caravaggio's early secular pieces, recoils in pain and surprise after having reached for one of the fruits on the table only to be bitten by a lizard, concealed among the pile of cherries. "
3. 1595 Caravaggio painting The Musicians (Concert of Youths) - the painting "depicts a rehearsal rather than a concert and the inclusion of the classical clothing of the musicians and a winged cupid in the upper left of the image signals a symbolic intent probably linking music, love and wine (represented by the grapes in the cupid's hand)."
4. 1597-1598 Caravaggio painting of Medusa - "This painting depicts Medusa, the Gorgon monster of Greek myth whose hair was made of snakes and whose gaze turned viewers into stone. Medusa was finally defeated by the hero Perseus who beheaded her using the reflection in his shield as a guide."
Background from {[https://www.theartstory.org/artist/caravaggio/life-and-legacy/]}
1. Biography of Caravaggio
2. Notes on Paintings
Childhood
Reliable biographical information on Caravaggio is scarce and what does exist has been pieced together from court and municipal records and other surviving documents. As a child, Caravaggio was known as Michelangelo Merisi, a reference to his birth on the feast day of the Archangel Michael. The artist grew up between the quiet agricultural town of Caravaggio in Lombardy and the bustling city of Milan where his father, a master stone mason, worked. Though of lower social status, Caravaggio's family had elite ties. Caravaggio's aunt had served as a wet-nurse to the children of the Milanese Sforza nobility, and members of the Sforza family, notably the Marchese Francesco I Sforza di Caravaggio and his wife, Costanza Colonna, witnessed the wedding of Caravaggio's parents in 1571. Costanza Colonna would later become a supporter of the artist during his many flights from the law, although she never personally acquired a painting.
In August 1576, when Caravaggio was five years old, Milan suffered from an outbreak of the bubonic plague. Though the artist and his family retreated to the Caravaggio countryside, by October of 1577 his father, paternal grandparents, and uncle had all died from the plague. By 1592, aged 21, Caravaggio had also lost his mother and youngest brother. The family land was divided among the remaining siblings and sold and Caravaggio left permanently for Milan where he supported himself through portrait painting.
Early Training and Work
It is probable that Caravaggio embarked upon his artistic career armed with a knowledge of Renaissance painters. Art historian David M. Stone notes that Caravaggio's work betrays the influence of numerous Italian masters, including Savoldo, Moretto, Lotto, Giorgione, Palma Vecchi, Titian, and Leonardo da Vinci. Caravaggio almost certainly received some form of Classical education and was aware of key texts of his time. As art historian Sharon Gregory has demonstrated, Caravaggio would have studied Giorgio Vasari's 1550 The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, from Cimabue until Our Own Time, and used Vasari's text as inspiration and motivation for some of his paintings.
Milan in the late 16th-century was a dangerous, violent place, and, therefore, a setting ripe to tempt and provoke the young, rootless, traumatized, and possibly hot-headed artist. After his involvement in a murder the artist fled to Rome in either 1592 or 1593 and remained there until 1606. Here, Caravaggio spent several months as an assistant to the artist Giuseppe Cesari, a popular fresco painter. While in Cesari's employment Caravaggio mainly painted background flowers and fruits, he took from this experience an eye for detail and affection for the nuances of still-life paintings evident in the precise execution of fruits and flora in his own, later works.
Following his assistantship with Cesari Caravaggio came into contact with his future patron, Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte. Del Monte supported Caravaggio providing him with lodging, food and artistic commissions as well as introducing him into art collecting circles. Like del Monte other elite Roman art collectors such as Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani were attracted to the subjects of Caravaggio's early works: celebrations of music, works of still life and sensual portrayals of androgynous young men such as Amor Vincit Omnia (1602) which depicts a realistic, naked cupid atop symbols of war, science, music, and literature. These genre and secular works were his entrance into prestigious Roman patronage and catapulted him to artistic renown.
Mature Period
In 1599 Cardinal del Monte helped him secure his first major public works commission, the decoration of the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesci with scenes from the life of St. Matthew. A second appointment, to paint the side walls of the Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo with the crucifixion of St. Peter and the conversion of St. Paul, soon followed. With these commissions, the artist embarked on the radical reinterpretation of divine figures which would become a hallmark of his career. Caravaggio humanized divine individuals by rendering them as lower-class folk. In this manner, Caravaggio critiqued and subverted the pristine, idealized figures of the Italian Renaissance and Roman classical traditions. Examples of this approach can be seen in Death of a Virgin (1601-1606) and Judith Beheading Holofernes (1602), the latter painting had a profound effect on other artists particularly Artemisia Gentileschi who created a number of images of the same subject matter. Caravaggio's religious paintings received very mixed reviews with the realism of the works and the juxtaposition of holy individuals with modern, 17th-century interiors inflaming some critics. Indeed, many of Caravaggio's works were rejected by commissioning institutions on the grounds of blasphemous or indecent portrayals.
Caravaggio's time in Rome came to an end in a dramatic fashion. Court records indicate that Caravaggio was involved in myriad scrapes and mishaps of an increasingly violent nature, and was often protected from prosecution by witnesses reticent to confirm the artist's involvement for fear of reprisal from the artist's influential and prominent patrons. In one of the more colorful episodes, in April 24, 1604, Caravaggio started a brawl with a waiter regarding his order of eight cooked artichokes, in which the artist smashed the man's face with a plate. Caravaggio's temper, trouble with the law, and violent acts reached their climax on May 28, 1606, when Caravaggio murdered his former friend Ranuccio Tomassoni, possibly in the context of a duel. Caravaggio fled Rome before formal charges for the murder were leveled against him; he was sentenced to indefinite exile from the city, condemned as a murderer, and subject to a capital sentence which allowed anyone in the papal states to receive a monetary reward for killing him.
Late Period
The artist then spent nine months in the Spanish-controlled city of Naples, arriving there by September 1606. In this period Caravaggio began to experiment more with color and contrast taking his lead from Venetian painters such as Titian. In 1607 Caravaggio moved to Malta and it is probable that he was guaranteed safe passage by General Fabrizio Sforza Colonna, son of his protector Costanza Colonna. During his time in Malta Caravaggio achieved great success and prominence and on July 14, 1608, he was invested into the Order of the Knights of Malta. His works from this period are distinctive - he began to paint with increasingly rapid brushstrokes and utilized reddish-brown hues more prominently.
A month after receiving his title Caravaggio was involved in a violent, armed fight at the house of the organist of the Conventual Church of St. John. This upheaval resulted in Caravaggio's criminal detention, his escape from prison, and his flight to Syracuse in the fall of 1608. The Knights of Malta subsequently revoked the artist's honors in absentia on December 1, 1608. Caravaggio moved from Syracuse to Messina to Palermo and then back to Naples in 1609. In Naples armed men slashed the artist's face for reasons unknown, leaving Caravaggio with near-fatal wounds. After this event, he remained convalescing at Constanza Colonna's palace until July 1610. Caravaggio then attempted to return to Rome after learning that one of his prominent patrons had secured a papal pardon for him. When he arrived in Palo, however, he was mistakenly arrested and put in prison for two days. Soon after his release, on July 18, 1610, Caravaggio died of a fever, possibly malaria, at the age of 39.
The Legacy of Caravaggio
Caravaggio has been alternately identified as an exemplar of late Mannerist style, or as a harbinger of the Baroque era. Though only twenty-one works have been definitively attributed to the artist, Caravaggio was a formidable artistic influence both in his time and today. By 1605, other Roman artists were beginning to imitate his signature style, and shortly thereafter artists outside of Italy such as Rembrandt and Diego Velázquez were incorporating Caravaggio's dramatic lighting effects into their own, landmark works. Caravaggio's style quickly gained devoted followers, the 'Caravaggisti', who imbued their compositions with the qualities of Caravaggio's work. Caravaggio's paintings also inspired important poets of his time such as Cavalier Giambattista Marino.
Despite acclaim in his lifetime and immediately after, by the 18th century, Caravaggio's legacy was all but forgotten, aside from some interest by Neoclassical painters such as Jacques-Louis David. The modern and contemporary fascination with the artist is largely due to the efforts of Italian art historian Roberto Longhi, whose 1951 Milanese exhibition and his 1952 Caravaggio monograph returned the artist to the public eye and cemented his current status. The theatrical elements of Caravaggio's images and his cinematic lighting enables an easy transference to film and directors such as David LaChapelle and Martin Scorsese have cited him as an influence in their filmmaking. In this they have channeled the power and directness of Caravaggio's images utilizing his depictions of imperfect bodies and his ability to create a narrative from the point of climax to immerse viewers within their own storytelling medium. Today, Caravaggio is viewed as one of the most strikingly 'Modern' of the Great Masters.
Beyond compositional innovations, Caravaggio's legacy has also been connected to the ostensibly queer content of his paintings, a signifier of his own potential homosexuality. The interpretation of Caravaggio's androgynous, sensual, and partly dressed or naked young men through the lens of homosexual desire is a contested issue within Caravaggio scholarship. Some authors, such as Donald Posner and Graham L. Hammill, unequivocally declare that works such as these represent depictions of queer sensuality and seduction. Other authors, such as Creighton Gilbert and David Carrier note that current assessments of the homoerotic content in the artist's work anachronistically misattribute to the 16th and 17th centuries, 20th-century codes and ideas about queerness and image signification.
2. Notes on paintings
a. 1593-1594 Caravaggio Self-Portrait as Bacchus_Sick Bacchus
It is probable that Caravaggio executed this self-portrait whilst in the employment of frescoist Giuseppe Cesari and the painting's carefully worked still life elements demonstrates the influence of Cesari's tutelage. Caravaggio's 17th-century biographer Giovanni Baglione identifies this painting as one of a group of the artist's early self-portraits painted with the aid of a convex mirror, a contention supported by the figure's awkward pose, as if turned to ensure better visibility in the mirror surface. The image may have been a 'cabinet piece' but was not, as far as is known, a commissioned work.
The title Sick Bacchus, a seemingly apt title for the subject's pallor and dark, hooded eyes, can be attributed to art historian Roberto Longhi, who believed that the artist painted it after he was discharged from the hospital, following an incident in which the artist was kicked by a horse and sustained severe injuries. Alternatively, the image's greenish coloration might simply be ascribed to a nighttime setting appropriate for the bacchanalia which was about to ensue. Bacchus was a fitting alter-ego for Caravaggio as he was the deity of wine, theater, ritualized displays of ecstasy and was synonymous with inspiration and destruction. The portrait, however, differs from traditional representations of Bacchus where he is depicted in the midst of unbridled celebration, often in a verdant landscape. Caravaggio's image adheres to the conventions of many of the artist's other works, presenting the mythological figure in a sparse interior. In addition, the artist's pallor and sedentary pose suggest not a deity in his prime, celebrating the virtues of wine and festivity, but rather the consequences of over-indulgence. Indeed, the ivy leaves encircling the artist's head have started to wither, a few of the grapes in his hands have begun to shrivel, and the two lush apricots in the painting's foreground betray the beginning brown spots of rot.
b. 1593-1994 Caravaggio painting Boy Bitten by a Lizard
This work is one of two paintings representing the same subject matter; the other painting is in the Roberto Longhi Foundation in Florence. Here, a young boy, an example of the tousled, curly-haired youth who populated many of Caravaggio's early secular pieces, recoils in pain and surprise after having reached for one of the fruits on the table only to be bitten by a lizard, concealed among the pile of cherries. Though Caravaggio condemned Classical statuary, the boy's expression may have its root in the expression of horror found in the statue of Laocoön and His Sons, and the lizard is reminiscent of the reptile portrayed in the ancient Roman sculpture Lizard Apollo, which would have been in Rome in Caravaggio's time.
On the table, Caravaggio demonstrates his skill rendering the play of light over and through different textures. In keeping with Caravaggio's wider style, the boy exists in a nondescript, timeless interior, with blank walls punctuated only by a stark, diagonal light source originating from the upper left, and outside the frame of the painting. This heightens the intense expression of the piece, as it highlights the boy's bare right shoulder, raised as he recoils from the bite; his furrowed brow and mouth open in a gasp. The work is notable in large part for its striking sexual subtext. In the Italian street slang of Caravaggio's time, bitten fingers represented a wounded phallus, and the artist's inclusion of jasmine, a traditional symbol of sexual desire, in combination with the lizard lurking beneath the cherries and apples, each signifiers of temptation, suggests that the painting illustrates the perils of indulging in sexual appetites.
Oil on canvas - National Gallery, London
c. 1595 Caravaggio painting The Musicians (Concert of Youths)
This work is an example of the Venetian pictorial genre of a 'concert' picture, exemplified by Titian's earlier 1510 work, The Pastoral Concert, in which artists celebrated the performance of music. This image, however, subverts the genre in a number of ways challenging traditional readings of it - it depicts a rehearsal rather than a concert and the inclusion of the classical clothing of the musicians and a winged cupid in the upper left of the image signals a symbolic intent probably linking music, love and wine (represented by the grapes in the cupid's hand).
The figures crowding the image seem to have been drawn separately and added to the composition. The central musician has been identified as Caravaggio's companion Mario Minniti and the other figure facing the viewer is possibly a self-portrait. The musicians are rehearsing madrigals and the lute player in the center is transported by the music, his wet eyes and dreamy expression suggesting sadness and lost love. The inclusion of a violin in the foreground indicates the presence of another musician. Caravaggio's patron, Cardinal del Monte, for whom this work was commissioned, was interested in music and he and his friends tutored musicians and encouraged musical experimentation. The crowded space of The Musicians may invoke the musical environment found in del Monte's household.
Oil on canvas - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
d. 1597-1598 Caravaggio painting of Medusa
This painting depicts Medusa, the Gorgon monster of Greek myth whose hair was made of snakes and whose gaze turned viewers into stone. Medusa was finally defeated by the hero Perseus who beheaded her using the reflection in his shield as a guide. Caravaggio depicts Medusa taking her final breath, immediately after the moment of her beheading. Unusually the image is painted on a circular canvas stretched over a convex wood backing. This mimics the shape of Perseus' shield and depicts the reflection of Medusa's final moments in its polished surface. It also references the practice of drawing Medusa on shields when going into battle to demonstrate victory over huge odds.
It is thought that Caravaggio used himself as the model for the image and as a self-portrait, Medusa is a good example of the artist's experimentation with gender and androgyny. In keeping with Caravaggio's interest in representing the world as it appeared and drawing from life, he used live snakes, common water snakes native to the Tiber River, to model Medusa's writhing vipers. The green of these and that of the background contrasts strongly with the red blood of the decapitated head highlighting the gory and visceral nature of the image. The painting was sent by the artist's patron, Cardinal del Monte, to Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, as a gift, and was well-received by the Medici family who put it on prominent display.
Oil on canvas mounted on wood - Florence, Uffizi
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Caravaggio ~ Robert Hughes Full Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbCtoTntfEY
Images:
1. 1593-1594 Caravaggio Self-Portrait as Bacchus_Sick Bacchus - "It is probable that Caravaggio executed this self-portrait whilst in the employment of frescoist Giuseppe Cesari and the painting's carefully worked still life elements demonstrates the influence of Cesari's tutelage."
2. 1593-1994 Caravaggio painting Boy Bitten by a Lizard - "Here, a young boy, an example of the tousled, curly-haired youth who populated many of Caravaggio's early secular pieces, recoils in pain and surprise after having reached for one of the fruits on the table only to be bitten by a lizard, concealed among the pile of cherries. "
3. 1595 Caravaggio painting The Musicians (Concert of Youths) - the painting "depicts a rehearsal rather than a concert and the inclusion of the classical clothing of the musicians and a winged cupid in the upper left of the image signals a symbolic intent probably linking music, love and wine (represented by the grapes in the cupid's hand)."
4. 1597-1598 Caravaggio painting of Medusa - "This painting depicts Medusa, the Gorgon monster of Greek myth whose hair was made of snakes and whose gaze turned viewers into stone. Medusa was finally defeated by the hero Perseus who beheaded her using the reflection in his shield as a guide."
Background from {[https://www.theartstory.org/artist/caravaggio/life-and-legacy/]}
1. Biography of Caravaggio
2. Notes on Paintings
Childhood
Reliable biographical information on Caravaggio is scarce and what does exist has been pieced together from court and municipal records and other surviving documents. As a child, Caravaggio was known as Michelangelo Merisi, a reference to his birth on the feast day of the Archangel Michael. The artist grew up between the quiet agricultural town of Caravaggio in Lombardy and the bustling city of Milan where his father, a master stone mason, worked. Though of lower social status, Caravaggio's family had elite ties. Caravaggio's aunt had served as a wet-nurse to the children of the Milanese Sforza nobility, and members of the Sforza family, notably the Marchese Francesco I Sforza di Caravaggio and his wife, Costanza Colonna, witnessed the wedding of Caravaggio's parents in 1571. Costanza Colonna would later become a supporter of the artist during his many flights from the law, although she never personally acquired a painting.
In August 1576, when Caravaggio was five years old, Milan suffered from an outbreak of the bubonic plague. Though the artist and his family retreated to the Caravaggio countryside, by October of 1577 his father, paternal grandparents, and uncle had all died from the plague. By 1592, aged 21, Caravaggio had also lost his mother and youngest brother. The family land was divided among the remaining siblings and sold and Caravaggio left permanently for Milan where he supported himself through portrait painting.
Early Training and Work
It is probable that Caravaggio embarked upon his artistic career armed with a knowledge of Renaissance painters. Art historian David M. Stone notes that Caravaggio's work betrays the influence of numerous Italian masters, including Savoldo, Moretto, Lotto, Giorgione, Palma Vecchi, Titian, and Leonardo da Vinci. Caravaggio almost certainly received some form of Classical education and was aware of key texts of his time. As art historian Sharon Gregory has demonstrated, Caravaggio would have studied Giorgio Vasari's 1550 The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, from Cimabue until Our Own Time, and used Vasari's text as inspiration and motivation for some of his paintings.
Milan in the late 16th-century was a dangerous, violent place, and, therefore, a setting ripe to tempt and provoke the young, rootless, traumatized, and possibly hot-headed artist. After his involvement in a murder the artist fled to Rome in either 1592 or 1593 and remained there until 1606. Here, Caravaggio spent several months as an assistant to the artist Giuseppe Cesari, a popular fresco painter. While in Cesari's employment Caravaggio mainly painted background flowers and fruits, he took from this experience an eye for detail and affection for the nuances of still-life paintings evident in the precise execution of fruits and flora in his own, later works.
Following his assistantship with Cesari Caravaggio came into contact with his future patron, Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte. Del Monte supported Caravaggio providing him with lodging, food and artistic commissions as well as introducing him into art collecting circles. Like del Monte other elite Roman art collectors such as Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani were attracted to the subjects of Caravaggio's early works: celebrations of music, works of still life and sensual portrayals of androgynous young men such as Amor Vincit Omnia (1602) which depicts a realistic, naked cupid atop symbols of war, science, music, and literature. These genre and secular works were his entrance into prestigious Roman patronage and catapulted him to artistic renown.
Mature Period
In 1599 Cardinal del Monte helped him secure his first major public works commission, the decoration of the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesci with scenes from the life of St. Matthew. A second appointment, to paint the side walls of the Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo with the crucifixion of St. Peter and the conversion of St. Paul, soon followed. With these commissions, the artist embarked on the radical reinterpretation of divine figures which would become a hallmark of his career. Caravaggio humanized divine individuals by rendering them as lower-class folk. In this manner, Caravaggio critiqued and subverted the pristine, idealized figures of the Italian Renaissance and Roman classical traditions. Examples of this approach can be seen in Death of a Virgin (1601-1606) and Judith Beheading Holofernes (1602), the latter painting had a profound effect on other artists particularly Artemisia Gentileschi who created a number of images of the same subject matter. Caravaggio's religious paintings received very mixed reviews with the realism of the works and the juxtaposition of holy individuals with modern, 17th-century interiors inflaming some critics. Indeed, many of Caravaggio's works were rejected by commissioning institutions on the grounds of blasphemous or indecent portrayals.
Caravaggio's time in Rome came to an end in a dramatic fashion. Court records indicate that Caravaggio was involved in myriad scrapes and mishaps of an increasingly violent nature, and was often protected from prosecution by witnesses reticent to confirm the artist's involvement for fear of reprisal from the artist's influential and prominent patrons. In one of the more colorful episodes, in April 24, 1604, Caravaggio started a brawl with a waiter regarding his order of eight cooked artichokes, in which the artist smashed the man's face with a plate. Caravaggio's temper, trouble with the law, and violent acts reached their climax on May 28, 1606, when Caravaggio murdered his former friend Ranuccio Tomassoni, possibly in the context of a duel. Caravaggio fled Rome before formal charges for the murder were leveled against him; he was sentenced to indefinite exile from the city, condemned as a murderer, and subject to a capital sentence which allowed anyone in the papal states to receive a monetary reward for killing him.
Late Period
The artist then spent nine months in the Spanish-controlled city of Naples, arriving there by September 1606. In this period Caravaggio began to experiment more with color and contrast taking his lead from Venetian painters such as Titian. In 1607 Caravaggio moved to Malta and it is probable that he was guaranteed safe passage by General Fabrizio Sforza Colonna, son of his protector Costanza Colonna. During his time in Malta Caravaggio achieved great success and prominence and on July 14, 1608, he was invested into the Order of the Knights of Malta. His works from this period are distinctive - he began to paint with increasingly rapid brushstrokes and utilized reddish-brown hues more prominently.
A month after receiving his title Caravaggio was involved in a violent, armed fight at the house of the organist of the Conventual Church of St. John. This upheaval resulted in Caravaggio's criminal detention, his escape from prison, and his flight to Syracuse in the fall of 1608. The Knights of Malta subsequently revoked the artist's honors in absentia on December 1, 1608. Caravaggio moved from Syracuse to Messina to Palermo and then back to Naples in 1609. In Naples armed men slashed the artist's face for reasons unknown, leaving Caravaggio with near-fatal wounds. After this event, he remained convalescing at Constanza Colonna's palace until July 1610. Caravaggio then attempted to return to Rome after learning that one of his prominent patrons had secured a papal pardon for him. When he arrived in Palo, however, he was mistakenly arrested and put in prison for two days. Soon after his release, on July 18, 1610, Caravaggio died of a fever, possibly malaria, at the age of 39.
The Legacy of Caravaggio
Caravaggio has been alternately identified as an exemplar of late Mannerist style, or as a harbinger of the Baroque era. Though only twenty-one works have been definitively attributed to the artist, Caravaggio was a formidable artistic influence both in his time and today. By 1605, other Roman artists were beginning to imitate his signature style, and shortly thereafter artists outside of Italy such as Rembrandt and Diego Velázquez were incorporating Caravaggio's dramatic lighting effects into their own, landmark works. Caravaggio's style quickly gained devoted followers, the 'Caravaggisti', who imbued their compositions with the qualities of Caravaggio's work. Caravaggio's paintings also inspired important poets of his time such as Cavalier Giambattista Marino.
Despite acclaim in his lifetime and immediately after, by the 18th century, Caravaggio's legacy was all but forgotten, aside from some interest by Neoclassical painters such as Jacques-Louis David. The modern and contemporary fascination with the artist is largely due to the efforts of Italian art historian Roberto Longhi, whose 1951 Milanese exhibition and his 1952 Caravaggio monograph returned the artist to the public eye and cemented his current status. The theatrical elements of Caravaggio's images and his cinematic lighting enables an easy transference to film and directors such as David LaChapelle and Martin Scorsese have cited him as an influence in their filmmaking. In this they have channeled the power and directness of Caravaggio's images utilizing his depictions of imperfect bodies and his ability to create a narrative from the point of climax to immerse viewers within their own storytelling medium. Today, Caravaggio is viewed as one of the most strikingly 'Modern' of the Great Masters.
Beyond compositional innovations, Caravaggio's legacy has also been connected to the ostensibly queer content of his paintings, a signifier of his own potential homosexuality. The interpretation of Caravaggio's androgynous, sensual, and partly dressed or naked young men through the lens of homosexual desire is a contested issue within Caravaggio scholarship. Some authors, such as Donald Posner and Graham L. Hammill, unequivocally declare that works such as these represent depictions of queer sensuality and seduction. Other authors, such as Creighton Gilbert and David Carrier note that current assessments of the homoerotic content in the artist's work anachronistically misattribute to the 16th and 17th centuries, 20th-century codes and ideas about queerness and image signification.
2. Notes on paintings
a. 1593-1594 Caravaggio Self-Portrait as Bacchus_Sick Bacchus
It is probable that Caravaggio executed this self-portrait whilst in the employment of frescoist Giuseppe Cesari and the painting's carefully worked still life elements demonstrates the influence of Cesari's tutelage. Caravaggio's 17th-century biographer Giovanni Baglione identifies this painting as one of a group of the artist's early self-portraits painted with the aid of a convex mirror, a contention supported by the figure's awkward pose, as if turned to ensure better visibility in the mirror surface. The image may have been a 'cabinet piece' but was not, as far as is known, a commissioned work.
The title Sick Bacchus, a seemingly apt title for the subject's pallor and dark, hooded eyes, can be attributed to art historian Roberto Longhi, who believed that the artist painted it after he was discharged from the hospital, following an incident in which the artist was kicked by a horse and sustained severe injuries. Alternatively, the image's greenish coloration might simply be ascribed to a nighttime setting appropriate for the bacchanalia which was about to ensue. Bacchus was a fitting alter-ego for Caravaggio as he was the deity of wine, theater, ritualized displays of ecstasy and was synonymous with inspiration and destruction. The portrait, however, differs from traditional representations of Bacchus where he is depicted in the midst of unbridled celebration, often in a verdant landscape. Caravaggio's image adheres to the conventions of many of the artist's other works, presenting the mythological figure in a sparse interior. In addition, the artist's pallor and sedentary pose suggest not a deity in his prime, celebrating the virtues of wine and festivity, but rather the consequences of over-indulgence. Indeed, the ivy leaves encircling the artist's head have started to wither, a few of the grapes in his hands have begun to shrivel, and the two lush apricots in the painting's foreground betray the beginning brown spots of rot.
b. 1593-1994 Caravaggio painting Boy Bitten by a Lizard
This work is one of two paintings representing the same subject matter; the other painting is in the Roberto Longhi Foundation in Florence. Here, a young boy, an example of the tousled, curly-haired youth who populated many of Caravaggio's early secular pieces, recoils in pain and surprise after having reached for one of the fruits on the table only to be bitten by a lizard, concealed among the pile of cherries. Though Caravaggio condemned Classical statuary, the boy's expression may have its root in the expression of horror found in the statue of Laocoön and His Sons, and the lizard is reminiscent of the reptile portrayed in the ancient Roman sculpture Lizard Apollo, which would have been in Rome in Caravaggio's time.
On the table, Caravaggio demonstrates his skill rendering the play of light over and through different textures. In keeping with Caravaggio's wider style, the boy exists in a nondescript, timeless interior, with blank walls punctuated only by a stark, diagonal light source originating from the upper left, and outside the frame of the painting. This heightens the intense expression of the piece, as it highlights the boy's bare right shoulder, raised as he recoils from the bite; his furrowed brow and mouth open in a gasp. The work is notable in large part for its striking sexual subtext. In the Italian street slang of Caravaggio's time, bitten fingers represented a wounded phallus, and the artist's inclusion of jasmine, a traditional symbol of sexual desire, in combination with the lizard lurking beneath the cherries and apples, each signifiers of temptation, suggests that the painting illustrates the perils of indulging in sexual appetites.
Oil on canvas - National Gallery, London
c. 1595 Caravaggio painting The Musicians (Concert of Youths)
This work is an example of the Venetian pictorial genre of a 'concert' picture, exemplified by Titian's earlier 1510 work, The Pastoral Concert, in which artists celebrated the performance of music. This image, however, subverts the genre in a number of ways challenging traditional readings of it - it depicts a rehearsal rather than a concert and the inclusion of the classical clothing of the musicians and a winged cupid in the upper left of the image signals a symbolic intent probably linking music, love and wine (represented by the grapes in the cupid's hand).
The figures crowding the image seem to have been drawn separately and added to the composition. The central musician has been identified as Caravaggio's companion Mario Minniti and the other figure facing the viewer is possibly a self-portrait. The musicians are rehearsing madrigals and the lute player in the center is transported by the music, his wet eyes and dreamy expression suggesting sadness and lost love. The inclusion of a violin in the foreground indicates the presence of another musician. Caravaggio's patron, Cardinal del Monte, for whom this work was commissioned, was interested in music and he and his friends tutored musicians and encouraged musical experimentation. The crowded space of The Musicians may invoke the musical environment found in del Monte's household.
Oil on canvas - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
d. 1597-1598 Caravaggio painting of Medusa
This painting depicts Medusa, the Gorgon monster of Greek myth whose hair was made of snakes and whose gaze turned viewers into stone. Medusa was finally defeated by the hero Perseus who beheaded her using the reflection in his shield as a guide. Caravaggio depicts Medusa taking her final breath, immediately after the moment of her beheading. Unusually the image is painted on a circular canvas stretched over a convex wood backing. This mimics the shape of Perseus' shield and depicts the reflection of Medusa's final moments in its polished surface. It also references the practice of drawing Medusa on shields when going into battle to demonstrate victory over huge odds.
It is thought that Caravaggio used himself as the model for the image and as a self-portrait, Medusa is a good example of the artist's experimentation with gender and androgyny. In keeping with Caravaggio's interest in representing the world as it appeared and drawing from life, he used live snakes, common water snakes native to the Tiber River, to model Medusa's writhing vipers. The green of these and that of the background contrasts strongly with the red blood of the decapitated head highlighting the gory and visceral nature of the image. The painting was sent by the artist's patron, Cardinal del Monte, to Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, as a gift, and was well-received by the Medici family who put it on prominent display.
Oil on canvas mounted on wood - Florence, Uffizi
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The Power of Art - Caravaggio (complete episode)
More series: Considered by many, as the artist who gave birth to the Baroque style of painting. Caravaggio's approach to
The Power of Art - Caravaggio (complete episode)
Considered by many, as the artist who gave birth to the Baroque style of painting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiH_ootDtTs
Images
1. 1599-1600 Caravaggio painting The Calling of St. Matthew "This image is from Caravaggio's first major public works commission, to create paintings for the lateral wall of the Contarelli Chapel in the Roman church San Luigi dei Francesi. It has two companion pieces depicting other scenes from St. Matthew's life, including The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. Here, Caravaggio depicts a moment from the Gospel of Matthew, in which Christ, accompanied by St. Peter, beckons to the tax collector Matthew to join him as a follower"
2. 1603-1604 Caravaggio painting The Entombment - "The Entombment was originally painted for the Oratorian church in Rome, Santa Maria in Vallicella. The scene shows mourners carrying Christ's body to its burial place, with John the Evangelist in a red cloak supporting Christ's torso, and Nicodemus carrying Christ's legs. A distraught Mary of Clopas, a weeping Mary Magdalene, and a bowed Virgin Mary accompany Christ to his burial."
3. 1607 Caravaggio painting The Seven Works of Mercy - "In January, 1606, Pope Paul V conceded a privileged altar to the aristocratic congregation of the Misericordia, founded in Naples five years before. Caravaggio may have been invited there for the purpose of painting the altarpiece. He carried it out rapidly, between September 23, 1606, and January 9, 1607, when he was paid four hundred ducats for it."
4. 1608 Caravaggio painting The Beheading of St. John the Baptist (in situ) - "painted as an altarpiece for the Oratory of San Giovanni Decollato, annexed to the Church of St. John in Valletta, in Malta. It is widely seen as one of Caravaggio's greatest paintings and may have been his passaggio, a gift customarily given following investiture into the Order of the Knights of Malta."
Painting background
1. caravaggio.org/the-seven-works-of-mercy.jsp [1607 Caravaggio painting The Seven Works of Mercy]
2. theartstory.org/artist/caravaggio/artworks/#pnt_1
1. Background on Caravaggio's painting The Seven Works of Mercy from {[https://www.caravaggio.org/the-seven-works-of-mercy.jsp]}
"In January, 1606, Pope Paul V conceded a privileged altar to the aristocratic congregation of the Misericordia, founded in Naples five years before. Caravaggio may have been invited there for the purpose of painting the altarpiece. He carried it out rapidly, between September 23, 1606, and January 9, 1607, when he was paid four hundred ducats for it.
The requirements for the altarpiece were difficult: Caravaggio had to include both the Madonna of the Misericordia and the Acts of Mercy in a single vertical canvas. Traditionally each Act had been represented separately. The few prototypes combining all the Acts in one picture were North European and inaccessible to him, and none included the Madonna. He set the Acts described in Matthew 25 : 35-36 in a little piazza, perhaps in front of the same Taverna del Cerriglio where three years later he was attacked. It is night, and the padrone is directing three men to his inn ("I was a stranger, and you welcomed me"). One is hardly visible. The second is recognizable as a pilgrim by his staff, Saint James Major's shell, and Saint Peter's crossed keys on his hat; perhaps he can be identified as Saint Roch but more likely, following the Gospel, he is Christ in disguise. The third, a young bravo, is Saint Martin c utting his cloak to share it with the naked beggar in the foreground ("I was naked, and you clothed me"). In the shadow behind the blade is a youth whose legs seem to be twisted ("I was sick, and you visited me"). The group of loiterers is completed by a husky man, Samson, in the desert of Lechi (Judges 15 : 19), pouring water into his mouth from the jawbone of an ass ("I was thirsty, and you gave me drink"). Opposite this group, on the right, is Pero breast-feeding her aged father, Ci-mon, through the bars of his prison ("I was hungry, and you gave me food" and "I was in prison, and you came to me"). And in the background, a vested priest holds a torch to illuminate the hasty transport of a corpse, perhaps recalling the plagues that periodically decimated the city's population (burial of the dead, the seventh Act, not mentioned in the Gospel). Above the scene hover the Madonna and Child with two angels, as if to warrant divine acknowledgment of human charity, particularly of the protagonists in the painting, who may portray members of the confraternity.
Altogether, it is an ingenious solution to an almost insurmountably difficult pictorial problem. Caravaggio did not accomplish it without some help: Pero and Cimon had already been used in previous representations of the Acts; he based his angels on a Zuccaro composition of The Flight to Egypt; and Saint Martin's beggar recalls the famous Hellenistic Dying Gaul. Nor did he carry it out without some revisions: there are substantial pentimenti in the heavenly group and in the area around the heads of Samson and the innkeeper."
2. Background on Caravaggio's painting from {[https://www.theartstory.org/artist/caravaggio/artworks/#pnt_1]}
a. 1599-1600 The Calling of St. Matthew
This image is from Caravaggio's first major public works commission, to create paintings for the lateral wall of the Contarelli Chapel in the Roman church San Luigi dei Francesi. It has two companion pieces depicting other scenes from St. Matthew's life, including The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. Here, Caravaggio depicts a moment from the Gospel of Matthew, in which Christ, accompanied by St. Peter, beckons to the tax collector Matthew to join him as a follower. The person of Matthew has been variously identified. Most interpretations cite the bearded, central figure to be Matthew, as this figure's gesture, a hand with an extended finger pointing towards his chest seems to ask "who me?". Others have suggested that Matthew is the younger man with bowed head at the end of the table and this may be intentionally ambiguous. Biographer Andrew Graham-Dixon attributes a political meaning to this composition. Completed around 1600, the year the French king Henri IV married Marie de'Medici, Graham-Dixon explains St. Matthew's slow rousing from "spiritual slumber by the coming of Christ" as an allusion to the French king's conversion.
This painting is a notable example of two of the artist's compositional traits: his depictions of holy figures in the guise of modern-day Romans, and his unique use of light. The figures around the table are dressed as members of the early-17th-century middle classes and Jesus and St. Peter are more simply clothed and barefoot, the faces are realistic and non-idealized. The only iconographic nod to the holy context of the scene is the faint, foreshortened gold halo above Christ's head, which is partly obscured by the diagonal beam of blinding light. These details caused critics to express dismay at the image and accuse the artist of blasphemy.
Though Caravaggio includes a prominently placed open window in the image, it provides no light; the brightness instead originates outside the picture frame, and is suggested as an otherworldly accompaniment to the divine presences of Christ and St. Peter. Caravaggio used this dramatic light source to integrate the chapel space into the world of the painting. Though its origin is not visible within the picture, the upper right light source was meant to connect to the natural illumination of the chapel itself and was an extension of the light emanating from a window directly above the chapel altar. The artist thus created continuity between the scene of Matthew's calling and the chapel in which it was situated.
Oil on canvas - San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
b. 1603-04 The Entombment/Deposition
The Entombment was originally painted for the Oratorian church in Rome, Santa Maria in Vallicella. The scene shows mourners carrying Christ's body to its burial place, with John the Evangelist in a red cloak supporting Christ's torso, and Nicodemus carrying Christ's legs. A distraught Mary of Clopas, a weeping Mary Magdalene, and a bowed Virgin Mary accompany Christ to his burial. As in his other work the figures are presented with a realism that belies their religious significance and this is enhanced the red and brown tones of the image (representative of Caravaggio's palette in this period) which further serve to highlight the earthy normality of the participants. It is plausible that the composition was inspired by Michelangelo's 15th-century Pietá in St. Peter's Basilica as Christ's limp body, dangling arm and foreshortened chest and head echo the pose of Christ as seen from the front of the sculpture.
The painting is organized along a dramatic diagonal, with figures aligned in a descent from the top right of the picture to the lower left corner. Each person illustrates a progression of emotion commensurate with their position in the painting. The outstretched arms and extended palms of Mary of Clopas occupies the apex of the diagonal and suggests the initial reaction of disbelief and despair at Christ's execution. The composition then proceeds downwards to a weeping Mary Magdalene, her face concealed from the viewer; to the resigned, bowed head of the Virgin Mary; to Nicodemus, struggling under Christ's weight. He turns his face to the viewer as if to ask "what next?". The question is answered by John the Evangelist who focuses on the example of Christ himself, whose expression of serenity, peace, and acceptance of death completes the painting's emotional arc. The painting was designed to hang above an altar and the stone tomb in the image echoes the shape and appearance of the altar. Consequently, Caravaggio extends the scene of burial into the space of the worshippers and the frontal light source beyond the plane of the painting appears to emanate from the altar itself - a divine light of resurrection animating, and lending hope to the burial scene above.
Oil on canvas - Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican City
d. 1608 The Beheading of St. John the Baptist (in situ)
This is Caravaggio's largest work and was painted as an altarpiece for the Oratory of San Giovanni Decollato, annexed to the Church of St. John in Valletta, in Malta. It is widely seen as one of Caravaggio's greatest paintings and may have been his passaggio, a gift customarily given following investiture into the Order of the Knights of Malta. This work is notable as the only piece Caravaggio ever signed. The blood pouring from John's head oozes into the artist's signature as 'Fra Michael Angelo' a centralized signature which, according to art historian Keith Sciberras, denotes the artist's new social status as Michelangelo, Knight of Malta. Scholars, including art historian Herwarth Röttgen, have noted Caravaggio's blood signature as an act of contrition, the artist professing his guilt and admitting his hand in the murder of his friend, the event which precipitated his flight and exile from Rome. Alternatively, David M. Stone argues that the artist's decision to sign the work through St. John's blood should be read as a celebratory gesture, the artist marking his new life in Malta as a Knight and his subsequent newly elevated social status.
As with other works from his Malta period the figures are clustered together leaving large swathes of empty or less populated space above and adjacent to the focus of the action. As a consequence, although the artist imbues each actor with a unique emotion or response, individuality is subsumed to the collective illustration of the dramatic moment. The only figure who betrays a strong emotion in the image is the old woman. The artist's tenebrism relegates much of her face to shadow, but Caravaggio highlights her hands, grasping her head in horror. The old woman is the emotional corollary to the placid, deceased St. John, and, by proxy to the stillness of the acts of witness which define the rest of the characters. The old woman's head, clasped in shock and dismay between her hands, represents the viewer's emotional guide to the scene.
Oil on canvas - St. John's Co-Cathedral, Valetta, Malta"
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Considered by many, as the artist who gave birth to the Baroque style of painting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiH_ootDtTs
Images
1. 1599-1600 Caravaggio painting The Calling of St. Matthew "This image is from Caravaggio's first major public works commission, to create paintings for the lateral wall of the Contarelli Chapel in the Roman church San Luigi dei Francesi. It has two companion pieces depicting other scenes from St. Matthew's life, including The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. Here, Caravaggio depicts a moment from the Gospel of Matthew, in which Christ, accompanied by St. Peter, beckons to the tax collector Matthew to join him as a follower"
2. 1603-1604 Caravaggio painting The Entombment - "The Entombment was originally painted for the Oratorian church in Rome, Santa Maria in Vallicella. The scene shows mourners carrying Christ's body to its burial place, with John the Evangelist in a red cloak supporting Christ's torso, and Nicodemus carrying Christ's legs. A distraught Mary of Clopas, a weeping Mary Magdalene, and a bowed Virgin Mary accompany Christ to his burial."
3. 1607 Caravaggio painting The Seven Works of Mercy - "In January, 1606, Pope Paul V conceded a privileged altar to the aristocratic congregation of the Misericordia, founded in Naples five years before. Caravaggio may have been invited there for the purpose of painting the altarpiece. He carried it out rapidly, between September 23, 1606, and January 9, 1607, when he was paid four hundred ducats for it."
4. 1608 Caravaggio painting The Beheading of St. John the Baptist (in situ) - "painted as an altarpiece for the Oratory of San Giovanni Decollato, annexed to the Church of St. John in Valletta, in Malta. It is widely seen as one of Caravaggio's greatest paintings and may have been his passaggio, a gift customarily given following investiture into the Order of the Knights of Malta."
Painting background
1. caravaggio.org/the-seven-works-of-mercy.jsp [1607 Caravaggio painting The Seven Works of Mercy]
2. theartstory.org/artist/caravaggio/artworks/#pnt_1
1. Background on Caravaggio's painting The Seven Works of Mercy from {[https://www.caravaggio.org/the-seven-works-of-mercy.jsp]}
"In January, 1606, Pope Paul V conceded a privileged altar to the aristocratic congregation of the Misericordia, founded in Naples five years before. Caravaggio may have been invited there for the purpose of painting the altarpiece. He carried it out rapidly, between September 23, 1606, and January 9, 1607, when he was paid four hundred ducats for it.
The requirements for the altarpiece were difficult: Caravaggio had to include both the Madonna of the Misericordia and the Acts of Mercy in a single vertical canvas. Traditionally each Act had been represented separately. The few prototypes combining all the Acts in one picture were North European and inaccessible to him, and none included the Madonna. He set the Acts described in Matthew 25 : 35-36 in a little piazza, perhaps in front of the same Taverna del Cerriglio where three years later he was attacked. It is night, and the padrone is directing three men to his inn ("I was a stranger, and you welcomed me"). One is hardly visible. The second is recognizable as a pilgrim by his staff, Saint James Major's shell, and Saint Peter's crossed keys on his hat; perhaps he can be identified as Saint Roch but more likely, following the Gospel, he is Christ in disguise. The third, a young bravo, is Saint Martin c utting his cloak to share it with the naked beggar in the foreground ("I was naked, and you clothed me"). In the shadow behind the blade is a youth whose legs seem to be twisted ("I was sick, and you visited me"). The group of loiterers is completed by a husky man, Samson, in the desert of Lechi (Judges 15 : 19), pouring water into his mouth from the jawbone of an ass ("I was thirsty, and you gave me drink"). Opposite this group, on the right, is Pero breast-feeding her aged father, Ci-mon, through the bars of his prison ("I was hungry, and you gave me food" and "I was in prison, and you came to me"). And in the background, a vested priest holds a torch to illuminate the hasty transport of a corpse, perhaps recalling the plagues that periodically decimated the city's population (burial of the dead, the seventh Act, not mentioned in the Gospel). Above the scene hover the Madonna and Child with two angels, as if to warrant divine acknowledgment of human charity, particularly of the protagonists in the painting, who may portray members of the confraternity.
Altogether, it is an ingenious solution to an almost insurmountably difficult pictorial problem. Caravaggio did not accomplish it without some help: Pero and Cimon had already been used in previous representations of the Acts; he based his angels on a Zuccaro composition of The Flight to Egypt; and Saint Martin's beggar recalls the famous Hellenistic Dying Gaul. Nor did he carry it out without some revisions: there are substantial pentimenti in the heavenly group and in the area around the heads of Samson and the innkeeper."
2. Background on Caravaggio's painting from {[https://www.theartstory.org/artist/caravaggio/artworks/#pnt_1]}
a. 1599-1600 The Calling of St. Matthew
This image is from Caravaggio's first major public works commission, to create paintings for the lateral wall of the Contarelli Chapel in the Roman church San Luigi dei Francesi. It has two companion pieces depicting other scenes from St. Matthew's life, including The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. Here, Caravaggio depicts a moment from the Gospel of Matthew, in which Christ, accompanied by St. Peter, beckons to the tax collector Matthew to join him as a follower. The person of Matthew has been variously identified. Most interpretations cite the bearded, central figure to be Matthew, as this figure's gesture, a hand with an extended finger pointing towards his chest seems to ask "who me?". Others have suggested that Matthew is the younger man with bowed head at the end of the table and this may be intentionally ambiguous. Biographer Andrew Graham-Dixon attributes a political meaning to this composition. Completed around 1600, the year the French king Henri IV married Marie de'Medici, Graham-Dixon explains St. Matthew's slow rousing from "spiritual slumber by the coming of Christ" as an allusion to the French king's conversion.
This painting is a notable example of two of the artist's compositional traits: his depictions of holy figures in the guise of modern-day Romans, and his unique use of light. The figures around the table are dressed as members of the early-17th-century middle classes and Jesus and St. Peter are more simply clothed and barefoot, the faces are realistic and non-idealized. The only iconographic nod to the holy context of the scene is the faint, foreshortened gold halo above Christ's head, which is partly obscured by the diagonal beam of blinding light. These details caused critics to express dismay at the image and accuse the artist of blasphemy.
Though Caravaggio includes a prominently placed open window in the image, it provides no light; the brightness instead originates outside the picture frame, and is suggested as an otherworldly accompaniment to the divine presences of Christ and St. Peter. Caravaggio used this dramatic light source to integrate the chapel space into the world of the painting. Though its origin is not visible within the picture, the upper right light source was meant to connect to the natural illumination of the chapel itself and was an extension of the light emanating from a window directly above the chapel altar. The artist thus created continuity between the scene of Matthew's calling and the chapel in which it was situated.
Oil on canvas - San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
b. 1603-04 The Entombment/Deposition
The Entombment was originally painted for the Oratorian church in Rome, Santa Maria in Vallicella. The scene shows mourners carrying Christ's body to its burial place, with John the Evangelist in a red cloak supporting Christ's torso, and Nicodemus carrying Christ's legs. A distraught Mary of Clopas, a weeping Mary Magdalene, and a bowed Virgin Mary accompany Christ to his burial. As in his other work the figures are presented with a realism that belies their religious significance and this is enhanced the red and brown tones of the image (representative of Caravaggio's palette in this period) which further serve to highlight the earthy normality of the participants. It is plausible that the composition was inspired by Michelangelo's 15th-century Pietá in St. Peter's Basilica as Christ's limp body, dangling arm and foreshortened chest and head echo the pose of Christ as seen from the front of the sculpture.
The painting is organized along a dramatic diagonal, with figures aligned in a descent from the top right of the picture to the lower left corner. Each person illustrates a progression of emotion commensurate with their position in the painting. The outstretched arms and extended palms of Mary of Clopas occupies the apex of the diagonal and suggests the initial reaction of disbelief and despair at Christ's execution. The composition then proceeds downwards to a weeping Mary Magdalene, her face concealed from the viewer; to the resigned, bowed head of the Virgin Mary; to Nicodemus, struggling under Christ's weight. He turns his face to the viewer as if to ask "what next?". The question is answered by John the Evangelist who focuses on the example of Christ himself, whose expression of serenity, peace, and acceptance of death completes the painting's emotional arc. The painting was designed to hang above an altar and the stone tomb in the image echoes the shape and appearance of the altar. Consequently, Caravaggio extends the scene of burial into the space of the worshippers and the frontal light source beyond the plane of the painting appears to emanate from the altar itself - a divine light of resurrection animating, and lending hope to the burial scene above.
Oil on canvas - Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican City
d. 1608 The Beheading of St. John the Baptist (in situ)
This is Caravaggio's largest work and was painted as an altarpiece for the Oratory of San Giovanni Decollato, annexed to the Church of St. John in Valletta, in Malta. It is widely seen as one of Caravaggio's greatest paintings and may have been his passaggio, a gift customarily given following investiture into the Order of the Knights of Malta. This work is notable as the only piece Caravaggio ever signed. The blood pouring from John's head oozes into the artist's signature as 'Fra Michael Angelo' a centralized signature which, according to art historian Keith Sciberras, denotes the artist's new social status as Michelangelo, Knight of Malta. Scholars, including art historian Herwarth Röttgen, have noted Caravaggio's blood signature as an act of contrition, the artist professing his guilt and admitting his hand in the murder of his friend, the event which precipitated his flight and exile from Rome. Alternatively, David M. Stone argues that the artist's decision to sign the work through St. John's blood should be read as a celebratory gesture, the artist marking his new life in Malta as a Knight and his subsequent newly elevated social status.
As with other works from his Malta period the figures are clustered together leaving large swathes of empty or less populated space above and adjacent to the focus of the action. As a consequence, although the artist imbues each actor with a unique emotion or response, individuality is subsumed to the collective illustration of the dramatic moment. The only figure who betrays a strong emotion in the image is the old woman. The artist's tenebrism relegates much of her face to shadow, but Caravaggio highlights her hands, grasping her head in horror. The old woman is the emotional corollary to the placid, deceased St. John, and, by proxy to the stillness of the acts of witness which define the rest of the characters. The old woman's head, clasped in shock and dismay between her hands, represents the viewer's emotional guide to the scene.
Oil on canvas - St. John's Co-Cathedral, Valetta, Malta"
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Caravaggios Secrets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSedI1S4LFg
Images:
1. 1606 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of David with the Head of Goliath
2. 1614-1621 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of The Supper at Emmaus
3. 1607-1610 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of Salome Receives the Head of Saint John the Baptist
4. 1605-1607 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of The Flagellation of Christ
Background from {[https://www.caravaggiogallery.com/biography.aspx]}
Birth Year : 1573
Death Year : 1609
Country : Italy
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, revolutionary naturalist painter, was born in Caravaggio near Milan. Caravaggio was the son of a mason.
He showed his artistic talent early and at the age of 16, after a brief apprenticeship in Milan, he was studying with d'Arpino in Rome. During the period 1592-1598, Caravaggio's work was precise in contour, brightly colored, and sculpturesque in form, like the Mannerists, but with an added moral and social consciousness. By 1600 when Caravaggio had completed his first public commission, the St. Matthew paintings for the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, he established himself as an opponent of both intellectual Mannerism and classicism. Caravaggio chose his models from the common people and set them in ordinary settings, yet managed to lose neither poetry nor deep spiritual feeling. Caravaggio's use of chiaroscuro - the contrast of light and dark to create atmosphere, drama, and emotion - was revolutionary. His light is unreal, comes from outside the painting, and creates relief and dark shadow. The resulting paintings are as exciting in their effect upon the senses as on the intellect.
Caravaggio's art was not popular with ordinary people, who saw in it a lack of reverence. His art was highly appreciated by artists of his time and has become recognized through the centuries for its religious nature as well as for the new techniques that have changed the art of painting. Though he received many commissions for religious paintings during his short life, Caravaggio led a wild and bohemian existence. In 1606, after killing a man in a fight, Caravaggio fled to Naples. Unfortunately, he was soon in trouble again, and was forced to flee to Malta where he died of malaria at the age of 36. His influence, which was first seen in early 17th century Italian art, eventually spread to France, England, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Caravaggio the Early Years
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was the son of Fermo di Bernardino Merisi, the steward and architect to the Marquis of Caravaggio, a town near Milan. When Caravaggio was around the age of 11 his father died leaving the young boy, his two brothers and his sister to be raised by their mother, Lucia Aratori.
Shortly thereafter, around the age of 12, Caravaggio was apprenticed to Milanese Painter, Simone Peterzano. The apprenticeship is said to have lasted 4 years during which time Caravaggio learned to mix paint, select brushes, and construct frames. During this time he also learned the Lombard and Venezian realist style which differed significantly from the idealization of the Florentine painting style of the time.
Sometime between 1588 and 1592 Caravaggio moved to Rome. The early years in Rome were tough for the young artist. He moved into the decaying Campo Marzio neighborhood which was a cosmopolitan arty area with inns, temporary shelters, eateries, and picture shops. Caravaggio was nearly broke at the time and had a violent temperament making it hard to keep a steady job. He moved from studio to studio as an assistant painting backgrounds and still lives in the paintings of lesser artists.
In 1595 Caravaggio broke out on his own, and working independently began selling his paintings through dealer, Maestro Valentino. Valentino brought some of Caravaggio’s work to Cardinal Francesco del Monte, an influential member of the Papal Court. He soon enjoyed the patronage of del Monte and was invited to live, dine, and work in the house of the cardinal.
Caravaggio the Middle Years
In 1597, Caravaggio was commissioned to paint 3 large paintings for the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. The Cardinal Del Monte was most likely instrumental in securing this important project for Caravaggio. This commission was a breakthrough for the young artist and helped to establish Caravaggio as a renowned painter. The large commission was an ambitious one, he was to paint 3 large scenes of the life of Saint Matthew: St. Matthew and the Angel, The Calling of St. Matthew, and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. Caravaggio depicted the saint in a dramatic realism unlike the pictorial style traditionally seen. These realistic paintings caused a stir in Rome and also marked a change in the artist’s focus. From here on out Caravaggio painted traditional religious themes.
By 1602, the decorations for the Contarelli Chapel were complete and Caravaggio’s renown surpassed his colleagues as his fame spread throughout Europe. The demand for paintings from Caravaggio grew and he completed works such as The Deposition of Christ, Death of the Virgin, The Crucifixion of St. Peter, and The Conversion of St. Paul.
From 1600 on Caravaggio was known by the Rome police due to his turbulent life. He was accused of attacking a colleague with a stick and raising his sword and wounding a soldier. In 1603, he was imprisoned when a libel action was brought against him by fellow painter, Giovanni Baglione. In 1604, he was accused of throwing a plate of artichokes in the face of a waiter, and then later that year he was arrested for harassing and throwing stones at a Roman Guard. In 1605, he was arrested for carrying arms without permission. Later that year he fled Rome after stabbing a man in a fight over a woman. Within a year he had returned to Rome and was once again forced to flee when on May 29, 1606 he got into a fight over a tennis match and killed Ranuccio Tomassoni.
Caravaggio the Late Years
After fleeing Rome Caravaggio moved from place to place hiding and eventually settled in Naples for a time. While in Naples he executed such works as The Flagellation of Christ, Madonna of the Rosary which was painted for Flemish painter Louis Finson, and The Seven Works of Mercy created for the Chapel of Monte della Misericordia.
In 1608, Caravaggio moved to Malta and was welcomed as a renowned artist. He was knighted into the Order of Malta after donating the impressive altarpiece, The Beheading of St John the Baptist for the cathedral in Valletta. Soon after his knighting he was expelled from the Order and was imprisoned. Caravaggio managed to escape the prison and fled to Sicily.
Caravaggio’s artistic fame followed him and during short stays moving city to city he worked all the while completing a number of altarpieces. In Syracuse he created The Burial of St. Lucy, for the Church of Santa Lucia. In Messina he painted The Resurrection of Lazarus as well as The Adoration of the Shepherds. In Palermo he painted Adoration with St. Francis and St. Lawrence. Caravaggio was waiting for a pardon from the Pope which would mean he could return safely to Rome.
In 1609 Caravaggio again returned to Naples. He was once again in a fight but this time he was severely wounded. After several months of convalescence he sailed from Naples to Rome in July of 1610. His small boat carrying all of his possessions made a stop at Palo. Caravaggio was mistakenly captured when he exited the boat and was imprisoned for two days before being released. Upon release he discovered that his boat, with all of his things was gone. Caravaggio set out to overtake the boat at Port’Ercole. He died a few days later of pneumonia on July 18, 1610. Three days following his death a document granting his pardon arrived from Rome.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSedI1S4LFg
Images:
1. 1606 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of David with the Head of Goliath
2. 1614-1621 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of The Supper at Emmaus
3. 1607-1610 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of Salome Receives the Head of Saint John the Baptist
4. 1605-1607 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of The Flagellation of Christ
Background from {[https://www.caravaggiogallery.com/biography.aspx]}
Birth Year : 1573
Death Year : 1609
Country : Italy
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, revolutionary naturalist painter, was born in Caravaggio near Milan. Caravaggio was the son of a mason.
He showed his artistic talent early and at the age of 16, after a brief apprenticeship in Milan, he was studying with d'Arpino in Rome. During the period 1592-1598, Caravaggio's work was precise in contour, brightly colored, and sculpturesque in form, like the Mannerists, but with an added moral and social consciousness. By 1600 when Caravaggio had completed his first public commission, the St. Matthew paintings for the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, he established himself as an opponent of both intellectual Mannerism and classicism. Caravaggio chose his models from the common people and set them in ordinary settings, yet managed to lose neither poetry nor deep spiritual feeling. Caravaggio's use of chiaroscuro - the contrast of light and dark to create atmosphere, drama, and emotion - was revolutionary. His light is unreal, comes from outside the painting, and creates relief and dark shadow. The resulting paintings are as exciting in their effect upon the senses as on the intellect.
Caravaggio's art was not popular with ordinary people, who saw in it a lack of reverence. His art was highly appreciated by artists of his time and has become recognized through the centuries for its religious nature as well as for the new techniques that have changed the art of painting. Though he received many commissions for religious paintings during his short life, Caravaggio led a wild and bohemian existence. In 1606, after killing a man in a fight, Caravaggio fled to Naples. Unfortunately, he was soon in trouble again, and was forced to flee to Malta where he died of malaria at the age of 36. His influence, which was first seen in early 17th century Italian art, eventually spread to France, England, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Caravaggio the Early Years
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was the son of Fermo di Bernardino Merisi, the steward and architect to the Marquis of Caravaggio, a town near Milan. When Caravaggio was around the age of 11 his father died leaving the young boy, his two brothers and his sister to be raised by their mother, Lucia Aratori.
Shortly thereafter, around the age of 12, Caravaggio was apprenticed to Milanese Painter, Simone Peterzano. The apprenticeship is said to have lasted 4 years during which time Caravaggio learned to mix paint, select brushes, and construct frames. During this time he also learned the Lombard and Venezian realist style which differed significantly from the idealization of the Florentine painting style of the time.
Sometime between 1588 and 1592 Caravaggio moved to Rome. The early years in Rome were tough for the young artist. He moved into the decaying Campo Marzio neighborhood which was a cosmopolitan arty area with inns, temporary shelters, eateries, and picture shops. Caravaggio was nearly broke at the time and had a violent temperament making it hard to keep a steady job. He moved from studio to studio as an assistant painting backgrounds and still lives in the paintings of lesser artists.
In 1595 Caravaggio broke out on his own, and working independently began selling his paintings through dealer, Maestro Valentino. Valentino brought some of Caravaggio’s work to Cardinal Francesco del Monte, an influential member of the Papal Court. He soon enjoyed the patronage of del Monte and was invited to live, dine, and work in the house of the cardinal.
Caravaggio the Middle Years
In 1597, Caravaggio was commissioned to paint 3 large paintings for the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. The Cardinal Del Monte was most likely instrumental in securing this important project for Caravaggio. This commission was a breakthrough for the young artist and helped to establish Caravaggio as a renowned painter. The large commission was an ambitious one, he was to paint 3 large scenes of the life of Saint Matthew: St. Matthew and the Angel, The Calling of St. Matthew, and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. Caravaggio depicted the saint in a dramatic realism unlike the pictorial style traditionally seen. These realistic paintings caused a stir in Rome and also marked a change in the artist’s focus. From here on out Caravaggio painted traditional religious themes.
By 1602, the decorations for the Contarelli Chapel were complete and Caravaggio’s renown surpassed his colleagues as his fame spread throughout Europe. The demand for paintings from Caravaggio grew and he completed works such as The Deposition of Christ, Death of the Virgin, The Crucifixion of St. Peter, and The Conversion of St. Paul.
From 1600 on Caravaggio was known by the Rome police due to his turbulent life. He was accused of attacking a colleague with a stick and raising his sword and wounding a soldier. In 1603, he was imprisoned when a libel action was brought against him by fellow painter, Giovanni Baglione. In 1604, he was accused of throwing a plate of artichokes in the face of a waiter, and then later that year he was arrested for harassing and throwing stones at a Roman Guard. In 1605, he was arrested for carrying arms without permission. Later that year he fled Rome after stabbing a man in a fight over a woman. Within a year he had returned to Rome and was once again forced to flee when on May 29, 1606 he got into a fight over a tennis match and killed Ranuccio Tomassoni.
Caravaggio the Late Years
After fleeing Rome Caravaggio moved from place to place hiding and eventually settled in Naples for a time. While in Naples he executed such works as The Flagellation of Christ, Madonna of the Rosary which was painted for Flemish painter Louis Finson, and The Seven Works of Mercy created for the Chapel of Monte della Misericordia.
In 1608, Caravaggio moved to Malta and was welcomed as a renowned artist. He was knighted into the Order of Malta after donating the impressive altarpiece, The Beheading of St John the Baptist for the cathedral in Valletta. Soon after his knighting he was expelled from the Order and was imprisoned. Caravaggio managed to escape the prison and fled to Sicily.
Caravaggio’s artistic fame followed him and during short stays moving city to city he worked all the while completing a number of altarpieces. In Syracuse he created The Burial of St. Lucy, for the Church of Santa Lucia. In Messina he painted The Resurrection of Lazarus as well as The Adoration of the Shepherds. In Palermo he painted Adoration with St. Francis and St. Lawrence. Caravaggio was waiting for a pardon from the Pope which would mean he could return safely to Rome.
In 1609 Caravaggio again returned to Naples. He was once again in a fight but this time he was severely wounded. After several months of convalescence he sailed from Naples to Rome in July of 1610. His small boat carrying all of his possessions made a stop at Palo. Caravaggio was mistakenly captured when he exited the boat and was imprisoned for two days before being released. Upon release he discovered that his boat, with all of his things was gone. Caravaggio set out to overtake the boat at Port’Ercole. He died a few days later of pneumonia on July 18, 1610. Three days following his death a document granting his pardon arrived from Rome.
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Great share, got to see some of his works during a TDY to Italy.
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