View Page: Caravaggio

	Caravaggio
	written by sunyuh / 10.13.2005

Section Three

3 of 7

Function

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Contarelli Chapel

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Cerasi Chapel

Caravaggio painted “The Calling of St. Matthew,” “The Inspiration of St. Matthew,” and “The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew.” These were Caravaggio’s first encounter with paintings so large. X-rays show several changes that he made throughout his commission. Yet Caravaggio must have studied paintings in other churches, and contemplated the kind lighting these paintings would be viewed in. The lighting in the paintings are complementary to each other, coming from the same natural source. The effect that the natural lighting and candle light would have produced is much different from the experience the viewer sees today. The three paintings read logically, from left, center and right, like a printed line of the events of St. Matthew’s life. They are open to the viewer. The hand placements, the spacing, the light are directed in a way so that the viewer has an intimate experience with the paintings and the chapel. The paintings were to honor Contarelli’s patron Saint, but goes beyond the specific life of the saint, and into realms and spaces that the viewer can be placed in—to choose a world between God and material goods, and to trust. The paintings in the Cerasi chapel work in similar ways. They are scenes suspended from time, of inspiration and divinity. But the viewer is placed into the scenes by the body placement and realistic portrayal. These messages aren’t necessarily ones by the patron or the church to the people, but rather of the popular spiritual beliefs of the time, and of Caravaggio’s.

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