Michelangelo Caravaggio, the great Baroque painter of the seventeenth century, was always an artist under scrutiny. His style, the subject matter of his paintings, and how he chose to depict his subjects, was often criticized and rejected by his patrons. In a journal article written by Troy Thomas, entitled "Expressive Aspects of Caravaggio's First Inspiration of Saint Matthew", these rejected paintings are discussed. The article focuses on the themes of these rejected works, but namely Inspiration of St. Matthew, and uses these themes to prove the work's validity. This painting is compared and contrasted to other similar, accepted works of the time as well, to help show that the work was not done in bad taste. Commissioned by Francesco Contarelli for the Church of San Luigi, Caravaggio's first attempt at portraying the Inspiration of Saint Matthew was rejected by the patrons for a few reasons that all underlined the dictates of the Council of Trent. The opinion of the church officials was that the painting did not express the necessary level of decorum for religious artwork: Saint Matthew's bare feet are displayed for all to see, he looks old and wrinkled, and the expression on his face expresses a certain illiteracy or ignorance. The angel, an androgynous and erotic figure, leans on Matthew and physically guides his hand to write the Hebrew script. This action was thought to depict Matthew as stupid, and unable to write at all without the direct guidance of the angel. The befuddled expression on the Saint's face also added to this impression of illiteracy. In his article, Troy Thomas discusses these reasons for rejection, and uses alternate interpretations of them to validate Caravaggio's work. First, the i... ... middle of paper ... ...that he had worn in Caravaggio's Calling of Saint Matthew, and embrace the ascetic life of an apostle. In my opinion, the above are all reasons to accept the Inspiration of Saint Matthew as a valid religious work. I agree with the author, and I believe that its expressive qualities make it an exceptional piece for a church, as it inspires the very themes in its viewers that Matthew personifies. Historically, Caravaggio's works have been criticized mercilessly, and his patrons were known to insist on revised versions of his paintings. I believe that it is Caravaggio's aggressively real style that lends an intense power, and a strong presence to his paintings. If his unconventional approach had been studied with more of an open mind, and embraced by patrons, I'm sure that he would have been able to truly express himself, which is art in its purest form.
Like the Lindisfarne Gospels, this representation of Saint Matthew takes a classical revival style appeared in the Carolingian world. Matthew’s attribute up in the upper-hand corner is a winged man. He looks energetic, very expressive and hunched over in contrast to more modeled images of even the same period and especially of late antique and classic painting. The painter uses a hard frenzied lines and bright colors to illustrate that he is writing frantically. His hair stands on end, his eyes are open wide and the folds of his drapery writhe and vibrate. The landscape behind him rears up alive and is very well conveyed. Cloths and hair of the figure is painted in detail. However, the monuments in the background are rather simplified comparing to other features in the painting. The painter even sets the page’s leaf border in motion. His face, hands, inkhorn, pen and book are focus of the composition. Artist struggles to raise the issues of perspective and tries to give us more three-dimensional view of Matthew. Painter does a terrific job in merging classical illusionism and the northern linear tradition. As the painter of the Lindisfarne Gospels Matthew transformed an important model into an original Hiberno-Saxon, so does the Ebbo Gospels artist transformed a classical prototype into a new Carolingian
Throughout the Renaissance, religion played a large role in the society. It was very common to make Christian-related paintings, for example, the crucifixion of the Christ or lamentations in late medieval Christ paintings at that time in order to spread the religion . Further explored by André Malraux, it is known within this period that art was made intentionally to tell a story, depicting a civilization through fiction, whereas their aesthetic value takes second place. One example that related to this argument is “The Lamentation with Saints and a Donor” by Bartolommeo Di Giovanni, a late Renaissance painting, made around 1480 – 1510 CE, a piece found in one ofs one of the collections at thein Art Gallery of Ontario Museum. This piece depicts
In the essay “Naturalism and the Venetian ‘Poesia’: Grafting, Metaphor, and Embodiment in Giorgione, Titian, and the Campagnolas,” Campbell explains the role of poetic painting, poesia, in Venetian artwork during the 1500s. Titian personally used the term poesia when he “[referred] to paintings he was making for [King Philip II] with subject matter derived from the ancient poets.” Poesia now refers to a type of sixteenth century Venetian painting, which Giorgione and Titian initiated and used within their works. Campbell’s main argument is that poesia is not simply aesthetic or reflective of poetry, but rather “grounded in the process of making – and in making meaning – rather than in an aesthetics of self-sufficiency or self-referentiality.” Like poetry, it is not self-contained; meaning lies outside of the work, within the interpretations of the viewers. He discusses the idea of grafting in poetry and how the same grafting model is utilized in the visual arts. Different images, such as pagan figures and contemporary figures and settings, are juxtaposed to create visual discordance and give an intrinsic meaning to the viewer. Campbell then uses many examples of writing, poetry, engravings, and paintings to explore his argument and the connections between artists during the 1500s.
Howard Hibbard's Caravaggio is an insightful look into the troubled mind and life of one of the most discussed artists of all time, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Hibbard immediately expands on his belief that Caravaggio is the most important "Italian painter of the entire seventeenth century." Furthermore, his paintings "speak to us more personally and more poignantly than any others of the time." Caravaggio is an artist whose life was far different from all other contemporary artists of his time, or any time. Unlike Annibale Carracci, Caravaggio's works were able to express many of his own feelings and emotions. As Hibbard says, Caravaggio was an artist who "somehow cut through the artistic conventions of his time right down to the universal blood and bone of life." Simply put, Caravaggio was the only Italian painter who was able to utilize his own emotion as his guide instead of the historical artistic tradition. This observation by Hibbard feels somewhat misleading. Clearly, the emotion of Caravaggio's works came out in full explosiveness throughout his years of painting. However, his lifestyle was so troubling that it seems to me that it would have been virtually impossible for him to prevent his life from entering his works. While it should be recognized that Caravaggio's emotion and difficult life is reflected in many of his paintings, it should also be noted that this may have been unintentional and only a side effect of his life. Here is a many who frequently got into trouble with law and killed at least one man in his lifetime. He was arrested almost countless times. Therefore, it seems unfair to me for Hibbard to describe Caravaggio as an ...
A common topic of artwork throughout history has been the crucifixion of Christ. Since it is such a common topic, it makes it very easy to see how artwork changed and developed from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. The painting on the left, The Crucifixion by Pietro Lorenzetti, shows the usual characteristics of a painting from the Middle Ages. The facial expressions are not varied or very in depth, Jesus and the other saints have the typical halo that is used very often, and the colors are mostly all bright, making nothing in particular stand out. The second painting, on the right, is by Caravaggio and is titled The Flagellation of Christ. There is an obvious shift from one painting to the next. Caravaggio’s piece is much more realistic.
‘Martha and Mary Magdalene’ sometimes known as ‘Martha Reproving Mary’ or ‘The Conversion of the Magdalene’ was painted by Caravaggio in 1595 and completed in 1596. The piece was done in oil and tempera on canvas, measuring at 39 and three eights by 53 inches. Art historians believed it to be a copy until the 1970’s. It wasn’t until after, that the DIA purchased this painting in 1974, where it has resided since. This composition is said to be where the artist has fully devel...
Located in a hallway nestled between the Art of Europe and Art of Ancient Worlds wings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is the Italian Renaissance Gallery (Gallery 206). Here, Donatello’s Madonna of the Clouds and Luca della Robbia’s Virgin and child with lilies face one another, vying for museum-goers’ attention from alternate sides of the narrow gallery. Both pieces indulge ingenious techniques, original at the time of conception, to create a completely new visual experience of a very traditional biblical scene, the Virgin Mary with her child, Jesus Christ. This paper will employ close visual analysis of two 15th-century Renaissance reliefs from Florence depicting the Virgin Mary and Jesus Chris in order to show how these artists used innovative
Much of the art created during the Renaissance was geared toward religion, and with Michelangelo this was no exception. By th...
...brese’s St John was executed half a century after The Entombment, it is evident that Caravaggio heavily influenced its creation.
Scorsese’s religious background gave him the inspiration and desire that he poured into making The Last Temptation of Christ, based on the book by Nikos Kazantzakis. Scorsese discusses how he was inspired from a very young age by the church. In an interview with Jim Leach, of The Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Scorsese says, “I guess the first art that I was exposed to was religious art, plaster saints in the church, and then literally the great masters, pictures being discussed in class,” and “A lot of this found its way into The Last Temptation of Christ. There’s a crucifixion scene which was copied directly from this painting by Antonello de Messina” (Leach, Web). Scorsese was inspired by art from the moment he was introduced to it in the third grade according to the interview. And a lot of what he saw made its way into his many films.
... the way that the artwork is resembled in the religious background of the gospel but reconstructed in to a celebrating impression. Throughout the fresco painting it depicts the myth of the Christ’s three fold temptations relating back to the article that “distinction between fresco and panel painting is sharp, and that painters are seen as competitors amongst themselves discriminating also, between the difference in genuine attempts in being better then the other.” Baxandall, “Conditions of Trade,” 26. in relation, the painting concerns the painter’s conscious response to picture trade, and the non-isolation in pictorial interests.
...laced on the style and materials presented in the painting. While evaluating and comparing various paintings the author feels that at the beginning of the Renaissance era the skill level of the artist was often not acknowledged whereas materials were, but at the end of the era, skill level played a larger factor in who was chosen to complete the artwork. Therefore, fresco painting, which emerged near the end of the period, changed this so called “deposit”, along with the relationship of the artist and the patron, allowing for the talent and skill of the artist to shine.
The Christian Church was absolutely instrumental in the art of the Renaissance. It was the driving force behind every inspiration; without the Church, there would have been no art. The Church was the only institution powerful enough to be able to support the commissions of all of the artwork, and it was the only institution, in which people had enough faith and devotion to spend so much of their time and money creating pieces that—although beautiful—were not necessities. The role of religion in art actually began during the Byzantine era. During this time, all artwork was religious in nature, and most of it was done in a consistently similar style so that figures from the Bible could be easily recognized by everyone and so that people had a consistent view of religious matters. Art during this time was largely iconic, meant to inspire the awe of God in the viewer. Along with various versions of the crucifix, one of the most popular images of the Byzantine style was The Pantokrator, an image of Jesus Christ as shown from above. An example of one of these pieces was done in the twelfth century in the abbey church of Monreale in the city of Palermo. Jesus is a monumental figure that takes up much of the space across the apse of the Church. One of his hands forms a mudra as the other holds the scripture. His fully frontal and direct stance along with the glimmering gold background serves to strike awe and fear into the viewer. Clearly this piece was done with the intent to impress the value and mightiness of religion first and attention to the detail and technique of the art second.
The artists of the Baroque had a remarkably different style than artists of the Renaissance due to their different approach to form, space, and composition. This extreme differentiation in style resulted in a very different treatment of narrative. Perhaps this drastic stylistic difference between the Renaissance and Baroque in their treatment of form, space, and composition and how these characteristics effect the narrative of a painting cannot be seen more than in comparing Perugino’s Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to St. Peter from the Early Renaissance to Caravaggio’s Conversion of St. Paul from the Baroque.Perugino was one of the greatest masters of the Early Renaissance whose style ischaracterized by the Renaissance ideals of purity, simplicity, and exceptional symmetry of composition. His approach to form in Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to St.Peter was very linear. He outlined all the figures with a black line giving them a sense of stability, permanence, and power in their environment, but restricting the figures’ sense of movement. In fact, the figures seem to not move at all, but rather are merely locked at a specific moment in time by their rigid outline. Perugino’s approach to the figures’themselves is extremely humanistic and classical. He shines light on the figures in a clear, even way, keeping with the rational and uncluttered meaning of the work. His figures are all locked in a contrapposto pose engaging in intellectual conversation with their neighbor, giving a strong sense of classical rationality. The figures are repeated over and over such as this to convey a rational response and to show the viewer clarity. Perugino’s approach to space was also very rational and simple. He organizes space along three simple planes: foreground, middle ground, and background. Christ and Saint Peter occupy the center foreground and solemn choruses of saints and citizens occupy the rest of the foreground. The middle distance is filled with miscellaneous figures, which complement the front group, emphasizing its density and order, by their scattered arrangement. Buildings from the Renaissance and triumphal arches from Roman antiquity occupy the background, reinforcing the overall classical message to the
Capitalism was still prevalent which allowed for patrons to build even larger art collections. This allowed for Caravaggio to be even more selective with his subject matter and style. In the Caravaggio, Calling of St. Matthew, Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, Oil on Canvas, c. 1599-1600 the painting was not lit uniformly but in patches. The paintings details were struck by bright and intense light alternating with areas of dark shadows. The figures were disheveled and plain. There were figures counting money that ignored the presence of Jesus in the room. A far cry from the idolization of Christ in most High Renaissance paintings. Caravaggio proved to be master of oil paints similar to Jan van Eyck minute