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CARAVAGGIO
Birth name: Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio
Born: 29 Sep 1571 Milan, Italy
Death: 16 Jul 1610 Italy
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Introduction
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Assault. Murder. Consorting with the devil. The notorious succès-descandale of the 17th century, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was
accused of all of these and more during his tempestuous career.
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Condemned as the "antichrist of painting," Caravaggio was as
controversial for his revolutionary artworks as he was for his infamous
temper and lengthy police record.
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A notorious painter during his life, following his death Caravaggio was
largely forgotten and it wasn't until the 20th century that his key role in
the development of Western art was remembered.
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Despite a scandalous lifestyle helping to preserve interest in Caravaggio
throughout the centuries, in the end, it is the true genius of his works
that has won his place in the history of art as well as in the
contemporary imagination.
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Introduction
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Caravaggio's works constitute some of the most stunning works in the entire
history of Western painting.
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Observing the evolution of his style from his early works (The Fortune Teller, Bacchus
and Narcissus) to his major successes (The Calling of Saint Matthew and Doubting
Thomas) to his final paintings (David with the Head of Goliath) is like watching the
tumultuous ups and downs of his life.
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Although chiaroscuro was used long before Caravaggio came onto the art scene
it was he who defined the technique and darkened the shadows. The artist's
observation of physical and psychological reality strengthened his popularity but
caused problems with his religious assignments.
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A prolific artist, Caravaggio worked quickly, using live models and using the end of
his brush handle to score basic outlines of his work. His preference for working
directly onto the canvas was alien to his peers and they accused him of idealizing
his figures.
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Personal Life
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Caravaggio takes his name from the town in which he was born in 1571 to a
majordomo in a region of Italy known as Lombardy. The artist was born during
the politically and spiritually tumultuous time of the Counter-Reformation, when
the Catholic church was trying to regroup after the Protestant Reformation, and
this historical context had an indelible impact on his personal and artistic
development.
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Caravaggio's father died from the plague when the artist was only 6 years old.
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At age 13, Caravaggio was apprenticed to Milanese artist Peterzano, who
instructed the young man in the basics of the craft, such as preparing pigments,
mixing colors, and the rudiments of drawing, anatomy, and perspective.
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The unprecedented naturalism that marked Caravaggio's mature style most likely had its
roots here: there was a markedly naturalist trend in the art of the Lombardy region, and
art historian Helen Langdon suggests that Peterzano may have encouraged the young
Caravaggio to study from nature.
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Personal Life
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Still a young man, Caravaggio moved to Rome in 1592, where he spent his
first years in utter poverty, painting for the open market.
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His career got a much-needed jumpstart when the influential art lover
Cardinal del Monte took the young artist under his wing and became his first
steady patron.
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Caravaggio attracted an overwhelming share of virulent critics and enemies:
socially, he was a belligerent, rude, violent and finally homicidal hot head,
while artistically, he was a daring rule breaker who thwarted the classical
rules of art.
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At the same time, however, his ability to depict religious scenes with an
unprecedented approachability and the most human of feelings and
sentiment provided invaluable inspiration for artists throughout the ages,
including such masters as Rubens,Velasquez and Rembrandt.
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Influences
Michelangelo:
Even Caravaggio couldn't resist drawing inspiration from the lesson of the great
Renaissance master, Michelangelo. Caravaggio would have had ample opportunity to
observe Michelangelo's works all across Rome, especially in the Sistine Chapel.
Michelangelo's influence is clear in Caravaggio's The Calling of Saint Matthew, where
Christ's hand is an exact reflection of the hand of Adam.
Leonardo da Vinci:
No succeeding Italian artist could paint without some evidence of da Vinci in his
works, whether it was intended or not.
Dürer:
Although a native of far away Germany, the influence of this genius of the
Renaissance extended as far as Italy. Caravaggio could have known Dürer's works
thanks to the freely circulating copies of his engravings and prints.
Northern art:
Especially in his early works, Caravaggio reveals a remarkable skill for still-lifes,
particularly fruits and flowers, as is evident in works like Basket of Fruit, Bacchus
and The Lute Player. This subject was imported to Italy from the sumptuous pictures
of fruits and flowers that abounded in Dutch and Flemish art, notably in the works
of artists like Pieter Aertsen and Joachim Beuckelaer.
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Artistic Context/Cultural
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Caravaggio is a pioneer of the Italian Baroque style that grew out of the
Mannerist era. Italian Baroque art was not widely different to Italian Renaissance
painting but the color palette was richer and darker and the theme of religion
was more popular.
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At the end of the 16th century, Caravaggio was fortunate to be working during
the Counter Reformation, when virtually the entire city of Rome underwent a
construction project as the Catholic Church renovated old churches and
constructed new ones in an effort to attract Protestant converts back to the
faith. All these new spaces needed lavish amounts of decoration, and artists were
all too ready to fill that need.
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As well as this, Caravaggio was also exposed to a new interest in scientific
naturalism flourishing in northern Italy, due in part to the influx of artworks from
northern Europe. Consequently, Caravaggio developed a style of unflinching
realism, unprecedented approachability and a direct appeal to the emotions that
had no equal among his peers and helped to mould 17th century Italian art.
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Formal Framework
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Caravaggio's works were so controversial in their own time (and for centuries
after) for their utterly innovative, revolutionary style. The intense, dramatic
contrasts of light and dark, resolute realism, meticulous attention to naturalistic
detail and approachable, life-like models set Caravaggio's paintings apart from all
the masters that preceded him.
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Caravaggio's first known paintings date from his arrival in Rome in 1592. During
these first years, he was completely destitute and painted small genre scenes, selfportraits and still-lifes to earn money on the open market.
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From 1595 onwards, Caravaggio's career was boosted when the influential
Cardinal del Monte welcomed him into his court. The young artist executed
paintings for the Cardinal and took advantage of his connections to garner prime
commissions from Rome's wealthiest patrons and collectors
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The artist's compositions became more complex and contained various
characters. Additionally Caravaggio's pictures became darker during this time.
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AMOR VINCIT OMNIA
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Caravaggio's depiction of Cupid,
rather than the cherub-like,
idealized boy, is realistic, from the
crooked grin to the tousled head
of hair.
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The painting was commissioned
by a rich patron Vincenzo
Guistanini, who retained it in his
possession and reportedly loved
it above all others.
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The painting was an immediate
success, and inspired
contemporary artworks,
including poems and epigrams
along the same theme.
Caravaggio, Amor Vincit Omnia,
1601–02, oil on canvas, 191 x
148cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
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In this painting, the boy is knowing and insolent, rather than heroic or
ideal.
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His pose seems to derive from 's Victory, but unlike that precarious
hero, he is firmly in the saddle.
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He is triumphant over the intellectual life: music (the old-style lute,
the new Cremonese violin, and the score, with the incipit beginning
with V, perhaps for Vincenzo), geometry (the T square and compass),
and astronomy (the blue globe with stars)
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The subtlety of the painting is not limited to the theme.
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The left background is strangely incomplete, with incomprehensible marks
above the musical instruments, as if Caravaggio had carelessly rubbed the
pigment off his brushes there.
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The change between warm and cool neutrals in the upper and the right
backgrounds makes clear that he lavished attention on it.
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The lack of any division between wall and floor seems to remind us that
the figure and the objects are illusory from the canvas rather than from
the room, as the painter's creations.
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The disproportion between the short right arm, the long legs, and the
large head and the short, but well-developed, torso suggests that
Caravaggio was deliberately utilizing the forms as well as the pose of the
Victory.
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Summary
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By all accounts, Caravaggio (1571–1610) was a volatile and violent man.
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He led a life marked by murder and exile and died before he was 40. Given
these experiences, he painted many scenes of struggle, torture and death in his
relatively short career.
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He was born at a time when the classical idealism of Michelangelo was
considered the height of beauty.
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Like Michelangelo, he painted from life, but his models were ordinary people,
including street children and prostitutes; and, in his religious paintings, they
did not look particularly holy. This was controversial – while it was easier
for ordinary people to identify with the characters in his religious stories,
many of his patrons thought his figures were vulgar and some refused to
accept and pay for his work.
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Amor Vincit Omnia was inspired by a
line from the Roman poet Virgil, ‘Love
conquers all: let us yield to love!’ and was
a common theme at the time.
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In the painting, we see the young god
Amor, known to the ancient Romans as
Cupid, spot lit against a dark and poorly
defined background. On his back is a
pair of powerful eagle’s wings and at his
feet are symbols of war, music and
learning. The young figure was painted
from a model and reflects the artist’s
acute observation of reality.
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Amor makes eye contact with the
viewer and his cheeky grin is endearing.
Caravaggio, Amor Vincit Omnia,
1601–02, oil on canvas, 191 x
148cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin