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Shedding Light on Caravaggio |
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by kelih / 09.28.2004 |
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Description |
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| www.artchive.com/artchive/C/caravaggio/calling_of_st_matthew.jpg.html |
| The Calling of St. Matthew |
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| www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol6is3/st-matthew-angel.html |
| St. Matthew and the Angel |
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| www.abcgallery.com/ C/caravaggio/caravaggio23.html |
| The Martyrdom of St. Matthew |
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| www.albany.edu/scj/ jcjpc/vol6is3/st-paul.html |
| The Conversion of St. Paul |
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| www.artchive.com/artchive/C/caravaggio/st_peter.jpg.html |
| The Crucifixion of St. Peter |
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CHAPELS
The Calling of St. Matthew, The Martyrdom of St. Matthew and St. Matthew and the Angel are all situated in the dimly lit Contarelli Chapel. To see these paintings, the viewer had to make an effort to go directly to the Chapel in able to discern the specific details and subject matter of each painting. The Calling of Saint Matthew and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew appear on the lateral walls of the chapel, while St. Matthew and the Angel is placed in the middle of the two paintings as the altarpiece.
In the Cerasi Chapel, The Conversion of St. Paul and The Crucifixion of St. Peter occupy the lateral walls. This Chapel is also dark, again requiring the observer to physically walk over to the painting in order to properly view them. It is also important to note that Caravaggio took into account that these paintings were to be located on the lateral walls. As a result, he painted them to be seen from an angle, not from straight ahead. He also created diagonals in these paintings toward the altar of the Chapel, drawing the viewers attention from his paintings to the altar.
CARAVAGGIO'S SUBJECT MATTER AND TECHNIQUE
The commission for the Contarelli Chapel works marks the beginning of Caravaggio’s religious paintings, and continued not only with the Cerasi Chapel paintings, but to Caravaggio’s death. Each one exemplified his new innovative techniques of chiascuro and tenebrism. Chiascuro is an Italian word designating the contrast of dark and light in a painting, creating spatial depth and volumetric forms through slight gradations in the intensity of light and shadow. Tenebrism is a term signifying the use of strong chiascuro and artificially illuminated areas to create a dramatic contrast of light and dark in a painting. Along with the use of chaiscuro and tenebrism, Caravaggio’s paintings showed a new religious intensity and psychology. His religious scenes make devotion more human and accessible to the worshiper. To create a more emotional appeal, he used dark colors to create his forms instead of the soft tints of earlier painters in order to convey the realness and flesh and blood of the his figures. All of these characteristics, as well as symbolism and carefully planned composition, all emerge in Caravaggio’s paintings in the Contarelli Chapel and the Cerasi Chapel.
THE CALLING OF ST. MATTHEW
In The Calling of St. Matthew, the background is dark, creating a dramatic highlight of the figures in the painting from an outside light. The outside light is from an unknown source and falls more directly on the figure of St. Matthew. Christ and St. Peter are standing on the right side of the painting. Christ has his arm stretched outward toward Saint Matthew, his hand in a pointing gesture that perfectly imitates the pointing gesture painted by Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam on the Sistine Chapel's ceiling. The beam of light leads the viewer’s eye from the figure of Christ to St. Matthew. St. Matthew repeats the pointing gesture of Christ questioningly at himself, with an expression of shock clearly shown on his face. Caravaggio chose to paint this scene when St. Matthew is in-between is new life as an Apostle and his old life as a tax collector. This juxtaposition can be seen by the fact that his other hand is fondling a pile of gold at his side, and there is even a coin stuck in his hat. This represents his mindset: half of his mind is occupied by the sin of his life centered around money and the other half of his mind, shown by his surprised gesture and his focus on Christ with the light highlighting him, is turned toward the salvation from Christ. This theme of sin versus salvation is further conveyed by the composition of the other figures in the piece, especially with the figures arranged around St. Matthew. The two figures on his right notice the Christ and are looking into the light away from the money on the table. They have a chance to be saved. On the left of St. Matthew, the figures are concentrating so much on the money, they do not see the light, and thus miss salvation. The old man standing, leaning hunched over further shows this through his use of spectacles. The use of spectacles in paintings was a device used to signify short-sightedness. In this painting, the short-sightedness is due to money, and the man cannot see past mortal richness to reach eternal enlightenment.
Another feature of this painting is the comparison between Christ and St. Peter, and St. Matthew and his cohorts around the table. St. Matthew and his friends are dressed in bright modern clothes. This places them in a certain time frame compared to the dark robes of Christ and St. Peter, which humble and somber, are almost timeless. The men around the table are also wearing shoes unlike the barefoot Christ and St. Peter. It also shows the importance of material goods to the men at the table instead of the humble and divine focus of Christ and St. Peter.
The placement of St. Peter is also important in this painting. There is uncertainty whether St. Peter was added in later, or was meant to appear in the painting from the beginning, which has also sparked several theories about his positioning. One is that he was placed there to appease the instructions given to him by the patron to have Christ and his followers in the painting. Another theory is that St. Peter is placed in front of Christ in order to make the figure of Christ more obscure. The last theory of the position of St. Peter is that he is placed in-between the figure of Christ and viewer to signify that to reach salvation and Christ, the viewer must first go through the church, which is represented by St. Peter.
The surroundings of the painting also hold meaning as well as controversy. The window above Christ has a frame in the shape of a cross, which is well placed symbolism for the religious painting. Behind the men around the table, on the left side of the painting, there is a dark strip of paint. This could be the corner of a building, showing that the men are actually outside of Roman Palace, and not in the interior of a building. Another marker of whether the scene takes place inside or outside is that the window has a shutter that opens towards the viewer. These make it seem as though the scene is taking place outside. Others believe that it is an interior due to the fact that the men are gathered around a table, and the light from outside of the painting is shining into the darkness of the room. No one knows the correct interpretation.
One last key features of this painting is the technique in which the figures are painted. The colors used by Caravaggio create voluminous figures that seem to invade the viewer’s space, especially when the light falls on them. It is also interesting to note that the figure of Christ seems to be striding forward, yet his feet are pointing toward the viewer.
ST. MATTHEW AND THE ANGEL
Similar to The Calling of St. Matthew, the background of St. Matthew and the Angel is dark. The figures of St. Matthew and the Angel are highlighted with a light from an unknown source, again creating a more dramatic effect. The subject of the painting is St. Matthew, in a moment of inspiration from the angel above him, writing his part of the Gospel. Since the Gospel is one of St. Matthew’s greatest achievements, it is placed in the most important place as the altarpiece. In a moment of inspiration, St. Matthew is sitting on the edge of his bench. The bench itself is almost falling of the edge of the painting into the viewer’s space. St. Matthew is deep in thought as he writes with the angel above him, ticking off the genealogy of Christ on his fingers. Both figures are fully swathed with drapery. The figure of St. Matthew himself is that of a mature philosopher. Unlike the first version, this version of St. Matthew is more similar to Caravaggio’s other portrayals of the saint.
The composition of the painting is vertical. The viewer is drawn from the angel above and then down to St. Matthew writing the Gospel. The exact position of the angel is unknown. Although the angel looks as though he is coming out toward the painting, and thus closer to the viewer than St. Matthew, St. Matthew is actually turning away from the viewer to look at the angel. This gives the impression that the angel is on the other side of St. Matthew.
The position of the angel above St. Matthew exhibits the hierarchical relationship between the angel and St. Matthew. The true divinity of the relationship is shown by the tilt of the angel’s head toward St. Matthew and the tilt of St. Matthew’s head toward the angel. Both are fully involved in this transcendental moment. It has also been hypothesized that Caravaggio painted the figure of the angel based off of theater actors who hang from wires.
THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. MATTHEW
After stopping work on the first version of this piece due to difficulty in painting his first large scale work with multiple figures (the original can be seen underneath through the use of x-ray technology), Caravaggio painted The Calling of St. Matthew and then successfully continued work on The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. The subject of this piece is the execution of St. Matthew in the temple he converted into a Catholic Church. Continuing the use of a dark atmosphere with a light from an unknown source focusing on the main subject of the piece, Caravaggio created dramatic effects with light as well as using the light to make his figures appear to be in three dimensions. The main focus of the painting is on St. Matthew, laying helplessly on his back with the half nude executioner standing above him with his sword raised. Caravaggio chose to portray the exact moment before St. Matthew’s death, and perhaps showing the moment when the executioner pauses briefly before swiftly bringing the blade upon St. Matthew. St. Matthew is elevated off the ground on steps, and the columns in the back of the scene can barely be discerned. The figure of St. Matthew has his hand raised in defense and is also wounded. The curve of the angel over St. Matthew’s head is juxtaposed with the sharpness of the executioner. Here, Caravaggio creates three lines of movement that draw the attention of the viewer not only to the main action of the piece, but also to a cross. The three lines of movement are from the arm of St. Matthew, the sword of the executioner, and the palm of the martyr being lowered by an angel on a cloud. It is interesting to note here that the angel is precariously lowering the palm, the symbol of a martyr, on a cloud due to the fact that the angel cannot yet fly.
Around the executioner and St. Matthew chaos is ensuing among those in the presence of this murder. These people, with terrorized expressions, are fleeing the scene. The light falls on random parts of these people, for instance part of a hand, adding confusion to the piece and emotionally drawing the viewer into the subject matter. This helps to frame the focus on the murder. The murder is further framed by the use of half nudes in the bottom corners. It has been suggested that these were men about to be baptized by St. Matthew, before his murder, and that, if the painting were to be extended below, there a pool of water present. In the back of the painting, there are modern figures dressed in contemporary clothing as well as a self-portrait of Caravaggio. The modern figures serve to remind the viewer to remember the sacrifices made by those in the past, and that they should continue to observe these sacrifices in the present.
The man in the back can be identified as the self-portrait of Caravaggio by other self-portraits as well as the dark hair, big nostrils, and arching thick eyebrows. Although the exact reason Caravaggio placed himself in this work is unknown, it has been remarked that he is King Herticus in the painting, and thus marking the beginning of his fatalistic and tragic portrayal of his own self image. The placement of a self-portrait in this painting could also be taken from the Renaissance artists, for whom it was common to paint their self-portrait in their paintings as their signature. This could be the influence of Raphael, who did practice this type of signature in his paintings. Since the x-rays taken from the first attempt of this painting shows that Caravaggio must have studied some of Raphael’s work due to the similar technique used, it is very likely that Caravaggio copied this device.
THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL
Caravaggio painted a first version of The Conversion of St. Paul, but, for reasons that remain unclear, he painted also second version of it. The first version of this piece is not only in an extremely different style, but the portrayal of the subject and figures in the piece are completely different in the two versions. In the second version, the one that now hangs in the Cesari Chapel, the subject is of St. Paul as he is receiving the light of God after being thrown off his horse. The figures in this painting are kept to a minimum. Only St. Paul, his horse, and the groom of the horse are present. This is meant to keep the focus on St. Paul, as well as to convey the extremely personal and intimate moment that St. Paul is experiencing. His arms are stretched upwards, receiving the light of God, in a position of helplessness on his back. This pose is reminiscent of the pose of St. Matthew in The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. Also, as is characteristic of Caravaggio’s paintings, the background is very dark despite the fact that the scene is recorded as taking place mid-day. The only source of light is that from God. For the first time in the depiction of this scene, Caravaggio paints the light of God with no figural personification. This helps to give the painting a sense of divinity and heightens the highlighting of the ecstasy exhibited by St. Paul.
Caravaggio has chosen to show the scene without any action. The horse above him is calm, showing very little movement. In fact, this painting has almost no movement at all. The only other movement besides the movement shown by the horse is the up-stretched arms of St. Paul. The use of the horse in this painting could be a device used by Renaissance artists to help fill up the space in the painting as well as frame the main focus of the painting. The enormous rump of the horse helps to lead the viewer down onto the figure of St. Paul.
The expression on St. Paul’s face is one of both ecstasy and divine acceptance. His eyes are closed, signifying both the physical blindness he will experience for the next three days, as well as his previous spiritual blindness to the enlightened of God. The figure of St. Paul is also that of a young man with no distinguishing features. He was a great sinner, he persecuted the Christians, yet by the mercy and power of God, he has been chosen and converted to the path of enlightenment. This gives hope to even the greatest sinner that he too can be forgiven by God if he leaves his sinning for the path of enlightenment. On the edges of the light that is shining down on St. Paul, Caravaggio painted little white dots on the edges so that they will sparkle in the presence of real light, heightening the divinity of the light and creating a more emotional response from the viewer. The enlightened of St. Paul is juxtaposed with the figure of the groom. Although this figure does have a small amount of light on him, it is clear from his stance and position in that painting that although he is lighted, he is not enlightened. The purpose of this painting is to show through the divine intervention of God on the sinner Saul, anyone can be saved and enlightened through the His divine will.
THE CRUCIFIXION OF ST. PETER
In contrast to the inaction of The Conversion of St. Paul, The Crucifixion of St. Peter is shown in the middle of movement. Following the example of Michelangelo, Caravaggio depicts this scene as the cross is being raised. He paid special attention to the way in which he portrays this movement, attempting to make it look realistic. It is possible that he used models in order to do this, which is can be seen by the straining muscles of the men lifting the cross. For example, one of the worker’s bulging veins and the redness of his hand is depicted as a direct result of raising the cross. Another executioner exhibits a bulge of flesh where his jacket cuts his waist as he pulls the rope.
As is typical in Caravaggio paintings, the background is dark, with a source of light falling on the main subject, which is St. Peter. The executioners around him are not lit at all. Instead they serve as an unattached physical mechanism raising the cross and pushing St. Peter closer to his death. They also help to frame the painting, drawing the viewer’s attention to the figure of St. Peter. The large rear end and dirty bare feet of the executioner on the left help to draw in the attention of the viewer, since the Cerasi Chapel is dark, and once the viewer is close to the painting, draw his attention to St. Peter.
The figure of St. Peter is made more dramatic by the light shining down on him. He is being crucified upside down (he claims he is not honorable enough to die in the same way as Christ), yet shows extreme calmness and serenity. He looks down, toward the altar of the chapel. St. Peter himself is portrayed with monumental massiveness, even for his old age. He is accepting of his death, and the scene, without an audience, releases an intimate vibe, appealing to emotions of the viewer and inviting them to participate in the extreme faith in the salvation of God shown by St. Peter. The main theme of this painting is faith, which can also be seen by the symbolism of the rock placed under St. Peter, signifying St. Peter as the rock of faith with which the church was founded.
Caravaggio also used an illusionism in this painting. Although it looks as though St. Peter is being crucified on an upside-down cross, he is actually only attached to one board. There is no cross beam. Instead, his left arm is stretched along the same board as his body.
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