Early years
Born Michelangelo Merisi in 1571, his name is attributed to the Northern Italian town of his birth – Caravaggio. His father was a respected builder with a workshop in nearby Milan, and his mother hailed from a landowning family. Sadly, when Caravaggio was still a small child, his parents were killed by the bubonic plague. This loss early in his life is credited with his lifelong tendency to seek camaraderie in the company of similarly disenfranchised characters. Caravaggio reportedly lived by the motto: “Nec Spe, Nec Metu”, which in Latin means “neither hope nor fear”.
1584 when Caravaggio was 12 years old, he apprenticed to the mannerist painter Simona Peterzano in Milan. Peterzano was supposedly a former pupil of the Venetian artist Titian. In 1595, Caravaggio’s penchant for getting into fights led to him injuring a police officer in Milan and fleeing to Rome. His first few years in Rome were challenging. He assisted various minor artists who barely paid or fed him. Eventually, he secured a lowly position painting ornamental flora for Giuseppe Cesari, a personal favourite of the reigning Pope Clement the 8th.
At the same time, Caravaggio maintained his practice of painting portraits which he peddled on the streets. Boy Peeling Fruit (below) is the earliest known painting of Caravaggios' and was painted shortly after he arrived in Rome. It is thought that, at this point, he was living with Monsignor Pandulfo Pucci in the Palazzo Colonna. Caravaggio did not stay with Pucci long as he disliked how Pucci treated him, nicknaming him Monsignor Salad, because of Pucci's habit of exclusively feeding his boarders 'greens'.
Caravaggio, 1592-1593, Boy Peeling Fruit, oil on canvas, 75.5cm x 64.4cm, Longhi Collection, Florence
It is believed that he fell seriously ill circa 1593. His portrait Young Sick Bacchus is recognised as a self-portrait from the time. His pallid complexion depicts the Roman god of wine feigning merriment whilst appearing rather sickly. The pale lips and yellowed complexion possibly indicate malaria. Caravaggio probably painted this to showcase the range of his talent. Still, the discomfort elicited when looking upon the unwell Bacchus maybe demonstrates his most incredible skill, Caravaggio’s ability not to shy away from the ugly truth but rather to display it front and centre. This will come to be known as a hallmark of his art.
Caravaggio, 1593, Young sick Bacchus, oil on canvas, 67cm x 53cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome
Caravaggio eventually left his position with Cesari and focused more on his own output. He had befriended a circle of young artists; among them were Prospero Orsi and Mario Miniti, who often served as models for Caravaggio. The painting Boy with a Basket of Fruit showcases Caravaggio's skill with not only painting portraiture but also demonstrating his exceptional skill as a painter of still-lifes. Caravaggio’s early commissioned paintings possessed a theatrical entertainment value, deep psychological complexity, and extraordinary attention to detail. Caravaggio was so detail oriented that he popularised the still-life as its own worthy genre. Until that point in Italy, the still-life was primarily viewed as a decorative garnish, but Caravaggio’s still-lifes were lifelike and demanded greater respect. His portraits showed the human form with an honesty not seen in other artists of the time.
The patronage of Cardinal Del Monte in 1595 gave Caravaggio his big break. Cardinal Del Monte was determined to make Caravaggio a star and set him up with a steady place to work and live.
Through Cardinal Del Monte’s patronage, Caravaggio reached celebrity status. However, thanks to the Catholic Church’s mission to crush the Reformation, he was elevated to an even higher status as one of the greatest artists of all time. The council of Trent decreed during 1545-1563 that art should aid Christians in understanding and reconnecting with their faith. Since most of the population was illiterate then, painting became a vital medium to disseminate Catholic doctrine.
Caravaggio painted people off the streets, inviting the poor, marginalised, and unseen into a seemingly humbler Catholic church. At the time, the Catholic Church's corruption and ungodly pursuit of wealth had disillusioned many of its followers, causing many followers to convert to Protestantism.
One of his first commissions for the Catholic Church was to paint Saint Matthew and the Angel (1602). The painting was intended to hang on the walls of the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. Caravaggio's first Inspiration of Saint Matthew and the Angel shows the viewer a balding, barefoot saint; hunched over his work as an angel tenderly guides his hand. He is dressed modestly, straining to see the text in the poor light. It’s an incredibly intimate painting, allowing the viewer to connect with the subject matter. Regrettably, this version was rejected because it failed to embody the ideals of the Counter-Reformation and was subsequently destroyed. I love the image. There is a tenderness about the image. Looking at it, you see the angel leaning into the old saint, guiding his hand as he writes. Saint Matthew is shown as a humble scholar, squinting in the poor light, trying to get the wording 'just right'. The image feels personal, as though you are a voyeur invited to look behind the scenes of the bible stories and gain a deeper understanding of God's will.
After his original painting was rejected, Caravaggio (still an up-and-coming artist) took no chances, and his next image stuck to a more traditional telling of the story.
The angel is descending from the heavens to impart the word of God. Saint Matthew, still barefoot, appears dignified as he looks up to receive the word of God from the angel. This time the Saint is depicted more respectably, dressed in richly coloured robes with a halo above his head. His hair has been whitened, adding an air of wisdom to his person. His back is straighter, and he needs no help writing the words; the relationship between the angel and Saint seems more professional and less intimate.
The commission was for two paintings, and the second, The Calling of Saint Matthew, caused a considerable stir when it was unveiled. People travelled from all over the country to see Caravaggio’s Calling of Saint Matthew, as never before had this familiar story been treated with such clarity. The painting portrays the moment Jesus calls Mathew, the tax collector, to become one of his disciples.
Bible: Matthew 9:9 He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
In the bible version of the event, Matthew immediately gets up to follow Jesus. Caravaggio’s painting shows a moment of hesitation, though. Matthew points to himself as if to question whether Jesus is referring to him. To the left of Matthew are his fellow tax collectors. These men are so consumed by their task of counting the coins in front of them that they haven’t even noticed the divine presence which has entered the tavern. To Matthew’s right are two young men who appear confused by Jesus’ presence in the tavern. The expressions on their face seem to amplify Matthew’s moment of indecision. Jesus is himself thrust mainly into darkness. His body is obscured by St. Peter, leaving only his outstretched hand and his head with a slight trace of a halo above it. The viewer is left guessing at Jesus’ facial features. The light from the side angle removes the need to add space to simulate three dimensions. Caravaggio uses light to wrap around his figures; so that he can place them in Infront of the flat wall, and they pop out as though they were on a stage. In the painting below, the subjects are illuminated by a single light source coming from the right of the painting. The stark contrast between the deep shadows and the warm highlights and mid tones intensifies the drama in the scene. The light focuses your attention on the subjects seated at the table.
Chiaroscuro and Tenebrism
Chiaroscuro is an Italian term that refers to the use of strong contrasts between light and dark in a work of art, especially in paintings or drawings, to create a sense of volume, depth, and three-dimensionality. Tenebrism, from the Italian tenebroso (dark, gloomy, mysterious), is a style of painting that uses violent contrasts in light to create a spotlight effect on its subject matter. The dramatic illumination of the type is more pronounced than chiaroscuro, and darkness becomes the dominant feature of the image. Although Caravaggio is often credited with the invention of Tenebrism, the technique had already been used by earlier artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Tintoretto and El Greco. However, Caravaggio is undoubtedly the artist who perfected the method.
Renaissance artists were interested in reproducing the world they saw around them. Architect Filippo Brunelleschi’s discovery of linear perspective gave artists a formula to create the illusion of depth and realistic proportion on a flat surface. Caravaggio took chiaroscuro to the extreme, often blacking out large portions of the background and brightly illuminating significant foreground subjects. High contrast with a single focused light source had a theatrical effect, casting his subjects on a stage.
Caravaggio and Sottobosco
The life that thrives in darkness. Sottobosco in Italian means undergrowth. In art, it refers to a subgenre of still lifes depicting the plants and creatures which inhabit the forest floor. Creatures of the Sottobosco lurk in some of Caravaggio’s most exquisite paintings. Caravaggio wasn’t a painter of the Sottobosco, but he likened its sentiment to pursuing what lies beneath. Caravaggio was quite a dark character. He would prowl the streets in roam, brandishing an unlicenced sword accompanied by unsavoury characters and itching for a back-alley brawl. He would paint these characters as they were, with dirty feet and lines across their faces, demonstrating that life is not always pristine. When he painted, he treated the mythological with raw contemporary grit; he often could not pay for models to sit for his paintings; and used beggars, prostitutes, and hustlers as his models for saints and deities.
Boy bitten by a lizard; is one of Caravaggio’s earliest portraits. The model's identity is often assumed to be Mario Minniti, Caravaggio’s companion. The painting's symbolism derives from the Apollo Sauroktonos theme, in which a poisonous salamander triumphs over the youthful god Apollo. The arrangement of the fruits possibly suggests The Four Temperaments - sanguine, melancholic, choleric or phlegmatic with the salamander being the symbol of fire in Caravaggio’s time. One can only imagine the young Caravaggio holding up a mirror, pulling various faces until he found an expression that satisfied him.
Caravaggio, the inventor of selfies
Caravaggio; often painted himself out of necessity, as he couldn’t always afford models, but he also painted himself as if to say: “I’m a new type of artist; I can put myself in my art in a different way.” Caravaggio was the first artist to insert himself in his work in an egotistical manner. Other artists had painted or placed themselves in their artworks, but Caravaggio made himself a part of the story.
When Caravaggio paints himself as the decapitated; but still conscious Medusa, it is as if he is saying: “I am Caravaggio; I am immune even to the gaze of Medusa.” When he painted Medusa in 1597, he had hit a significant milestone in his life – he had been commissioned to decorate the Contarelli Chapel in which he would paint The calling of Saint Matthew and Saint Matthew and the Angel. Caravaggio’s painting style differed from the idealised themes of the times; he was more inclined to paint realistic scenes; in which the truth of a story draws you in. The opportunity to work on the chapel motivated Caravaggio to incorporate more realism into his artworks.
One can draw many implications from Caravaggio casting his image as the Medusa. The Medusa, once a beautiful woman whom the gods cursed, turned everyone who looked upon her to stone. In the myths, Medusa was decapitated by Perseus. Caravaggio’s Medusa shows the Gorgon looking to the side, its mouth caught skewed in a scream, blood dripping from the severed head. It’s an arresting and confronting version of the myth. To look directly at the Gorgon's head, even after death, could turn a person to stone. Caravaggio's portrayal of an animated yet, the decapitated head sends a chill down one's spine. As if her power followed her into the afterlife, she could still harm her audience from the grave.
In The taking of Christ, Caravaggio paints himself as the man holding a lantern, essentially shining a light on the scene. There are seven figures in the painting: from left to right, they are John (fleeing from Jesus), Jesus, Judas (who has just kissed Jesus to identify him to the Roman soldiers), three soldiers – and Caravaggio, presumably representing St. Peter, who would first betray Jesus by denying him, then go on to bring the light of Christ to the world. Caravaggio doesn’t simply insert himself in the image but assigns a role to himself – that of the artist who shows the world the truth.
The final years
Caravaggio was a troubled soul who somehow made enemies wherever he went. The history is unclear, but it appears that on May 28, 1606, Caravaggio killed Rinuccio Tommasoni in a brawl over a tennis match, though there were possibly gambling debts involved as well. Caravaggio was obliged to escape to Naples to avoid a death sentence placed upon him in Rome. For the next three years, he moved around. After leaving Naples, he travelled to Malta and succeeded in being inducted into the Order of the Knights of Malta. As a result of his new status, he was pardoned and able to return to Rome. Unfortunately, he got into more trouble and was arrested in Malta. His supporters managed to spring him from jail, and he escaped to Sicily and then back on to Naples.
In May 1610, the agent of Genoese nobleman Marcantonio Doria wrote about a picture Caravaggio had finished – The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula; the Saint was depicted in a fashion that completely astonished all who saw it.
The painting marks yet another change in Caravaggio’s compositional style. In Sicily, he had continued the compositional scheme introduced with The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, a small group of figures dwarfed by monumental architecture.
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