Many of us are preparing for our J-Term which means I am doing some extensive prep work on Rome. This past semester left me up to my eyeballs in the ashes of 64 AD. But now, I jump ahead to the 1500s and take a peak at Caravaggio, a painter from northern Italy.
Caravaggio disdained the classical painters, so much so that one called him the "Anti-Christ of Painting". He drew criticism from some who suggested that his work would bring down the entire school of the Classical tradition, and compliments from others who admired his work and borrowed from it, using light and darkness in their work. This despite his anti-social life filled with everything from assaults to murder, produced a man who painted astonishing works full of depth, richness, and even, at times, torment. Perhaps it was this life of darkness that prevented him from embracing the light of the Renaissance - beauty, form, and faith.
One of his best known works was the
Conversion of St. Paul, painted for the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. To me, the work depicts the events in an earthly sense, singing in my heart the hand of God as Paul looks up from the ground beneath the horse. Many probably found this to be in terrible taste in the time and the painting certainly does not host the brightness nor colours of the period. But then again, none of Caravaggio's paintings really do. They are dark with sporadic bits of colour which draw your eye away from the dark places. In
The Calling of St. Matthew for instance, your eyes are drawn away from the subtle Christ to the red sleeves of the tax collector, in a tavern. A tavern. Yes,
a tavern.
Caravaggio's work, dark as it is, oozes feeling. Study one painting for a moment and you'll experience a depth of emotion - a sense of being seen, of being of this world - all the while being called apart from it. His reflection of faith, intentional or not, leaves one to drool, and not one bit like the
Dormition of the Virgin.
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