Caravaggio (1571–1610) was a controversial Italian painter of the 17th century. He was the first to let reality into painting when he depicted a pilgrim worshiping the Madonna with dirty heels. His paintings are everyday and biblical scenes, characters with emotional faces and a black background that has half absorbed all the action.

Caravaggio in Rome

Caravaggio arrived in Rome around 1591. In Rome, he has no money and connections. He lives in poor areas, communicates with the marginalized. He takes on any job – he works as an assistant to the Roman master Cavalier d’Arpino.

Then Caravaggio begins to create his first works. Early works from the Roman period date back to 1593.

Caravaggio at the Cardinal’s House

In 1597, Cardinal Francesco del Monte, a representative of the Vatican and a patron of the arts, was interested in an unknown artist. The poor apprentice moves to the cardinal’s house and continues to work on the paintings himself. So a person without money, connections and supports becomes a sought-after master.

While Caravaggio paints pictures with one hero, obviously from life, the male type is repeated from picture to picture, and he almost does not depict female images. Monofigure compositions did not become the artist’s main theme. Although revolutionary, they were not so easy to sell.

Birth of still life

The painting “Fruit Basket” (1597) belongs to the early period of creativity. This is the first still life in the history of Italian painting. Why is she interesting?

Lack of plot. This is new in itself. The absence of a plot suggests that the artist does not set himself ideological goals. He is only interested in formal solutions: how to depict the velvety and dullness of the peel, the dried leaf and the brilliance of reflected light.

Symbolism. The fruits collected in one basket are united by one property – the artist shows them at the moment of maximum ripening. The state of maturity, even overripeness, is indicated by wilting leaves, with which some of the fruits were plucked, wormholes on the surface of the apple. These are fruits that have reached their peak and are now dying.

Music scenes and games

In the second half of the 1590s, the artist moved from one-figure paintings to scenes of divination, playing music, and playing cards. They symbolize the sinful and virtuous incarnations of man. Divination refers to sinful states. Music-making and music itself are connected with God.

Like sitters, Caravaggio takes heroes from the life around him – he writes fortune-tellers whom he meets in taverns. From living nature, he moves on to depicting the realities of human life. At the same time, the scene is brought as close as possible to the viewer. He does not write the figures completely, but “frames” the most interesting part of the scene, even if this requires cropping the characters. The consequence of this compositional solution is the destruction of the invisible barrier between the illusory space and the space in which the viewer is located.

Caravaggio and church orders

The main task that Caravaggio sets for himself is to draw the viewer into the ongoing event and make it convincing. To make everyone feel like a participant in what is happening.

All the heroes of the biblical story are dressed in modern costumes, the action takes place during the time of Caravaggio. Evening. Matthew, the tax collector, sits at the table and counts the coins. Together with him are three guards and an old man, possibly the owner of the tavern. Two heroes are focused on money, one looks at the incoming, two – in the opening behind them.

Cerazi Chapel in c. Santa Maria del Popolo is the second major commission for which Caravaggio wrote The Martyrdom of the Apostle Peter and The Calling of Saul.

Flight from Rome and death

After a series of church orders, in 1606 Caravaggio is accused of murdering one of the townspeople and sentenced to death. He flees to Naples. The last 4 years of creativity, life and wanderings of the master begin.

A year later, Caravaggio moved to Malta. At first, everything goes well, he becomes a knight of the Order of Malta, works on order. Here he writes the most realistic works:

“The Resurrection of Lazarus” by Caravaggio, he wrote from a real corpse, dug out of the grave. The artist’s style changes: a different concept of light arises, more complex. The light is no longer so directional and contrasting. The space increases, the figures decrease.

But even in Malta, the scandalous artist is imprisoned. From there he flees to Sicily, in 1609 – back to Malta. In 1610, on his way to Rome, where he was to receive permission from the death penalty from the pope, he dies of the plague or malaria.

Remember. How to distinguish a painting by Caravaggio

• Realism. The artist faithfully depicts nature, he is occupied with this game and the challenge – to write “similar” and “convincing”.
• Light is the director. The light shows which of the heroes is the main one (snatched by a stream of light), and which is secondary, who is good and who is the villain. Light becomes the basis of the dramaturgy of the scene.
• Modern clothes. Before Caravaggio, biblical and mythological heroes wore antique clothes in paintings. In Caravaggio, these heroes from the past are dressed as contemporaries.
• Plots. One-figure scenes with a male model; scenes from the life of commoners – games, playing music, street divination; religious canvases in which the characters look like ordinary people.