Merisi, Michelangelo (Caravaggio) [Italian, 1565-1609]

Caravaggio: Madonna del Rosario [Vienna] - rosario.jpg
Caravaggio: Medusa, 1590 [Florence] - medusa.jpg
Caravaggio: Supper at Emmaus, 1600 [London] - emmaus.jpg
Caravaggio: The Crucifixion of Saint Peter, 1600 [Rome] - st_peter.jpg
Caravaggio: The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, 1601 [Potsdam] - stthomas.jpg
Caravaggio: The Inspiration of Saint Matthew, 1602 [Rome] - matthew.jpg

CARAVAGGIO (Michelangelo Merisi)
Bacchus
c. 1597
Oil on canvas
37 3/8 x 33 1/2 in.
Uffizi, Florence

CARAVAGGIO
Medusa
after 1590
oil on canvas mounted on wood
Uffizi, Florence

CARAVAGGIO (Michelangelo Merisi)
Madonna del Rosario

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

CARAVAGGIO, Michelangelo Merisi da
The Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist
1607-08
Oil on canvas
11' 9 1/2" x 17' 3"
Pro-Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, La Valletta, Malta

Text from "Caravaggio", by Alfred Moir.

"Saint John was the patron saint of the Knights of Malta and of the
cathedral, for the new oratory of hich Caravaggio painted this canvas.
It is his largest work, and the only one he signed - prophetically, in
the blood flowing onto the pavement from the saint's neck. The Grand
Master was so pleased by it, according to Bellori, that he presented
Caravaggio with a gold chain, two slaves, and various other rewards; the
frame bears his coat of arms. Bellori's implication that it was painted
after the portrait of Wignancourt is unreliable. "The structure recalls
the monumental murals that Caravaggio must have studied in Rome. No
specific detail seems to be derived from them, but we can sense their
reverberation - notably Raphael's Stanza della Segnatura in the
combination of circular forms with horizontals, the ample space, and the
integration of the figures and the building. This building is
Caravaggio's most detailed architectural setting, and the only one that
records an existing structure, the entrance and adjacent window in the
main facade of the Grand Master's Palace (now the Armory) in La
Valletta, as it was then. "The composition is classically simple, a
large shallow space with a cluster of figures on the left balanced by a
wall and a window on the right. It is held together by a series of
horizontals, most obvious the base line of the wall and the line formed
by the extension of the tie rod to the upper edge of the window.
Caravaggio's palette was so muted, and the density of the atmosphere is
so great - only the spotlight on the figures penetrates it - that the
two-dimensional effect is of a single vast color field with accents
placed on it. "The dramatic impact of the composition almost obliterates
its effectiveness as an abstract construction. It is a silent painting,
intimate despite its great scale. The focus is first on the pointing
index finger of the business-like warden, who forms the single vertical
axis in the figure group, directing the operation. Only secondarily can
Saint John's body be found. It is over-lifesize, and the only horizontal
figure. From the center of the warden's finger, the action fans out - to
the executioner's left hand, holding Saint John's partially severed head
in place like a butcher in an abattoir while he reaches with his right
for his dagger to finish the process off neatly; to the platter, held
low by Salome in anticipation of receiving the head; to the old woman.
She is horrified, the only character responding sympathetically to the
execution. Incredibly, she covers her ears rather than her eyes; are the
sounds - those of the actual decapitation - worse than the sight ? Or is
this, like so many other gestures in Caravaggio's oeuvre kinesthetic -
is she making us aware that if we can see, we can also hear? Perhaps
Caravaggio intended to stimulate a similar sense of projection in the
poses of the two spectators, straining on our behalf as much as their
own, curious to see what is happening. Finally, we must allow - or
force� ourselves to look past the deadly line of the glittering blade at
the pathos of Saint John's painfully bound body.

CARAVAGGIO (Michelangelo Merisi)
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas
1601-02
Oil on canvas
42 1/8 x 57 1/2 in.
Neues Palais, Potsdam

CARAVAGGIO (Michelangelo Merisi)
The Crucifixion of Saint Peter
1600-1601
Oil on canvas
90 1/2 x 70 in.
Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popola, Rome

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