The Hammock Papers: Caravaggio.

23 July 2011

Caravaggio.

On this date in 1599, Michelangelo Merisi di Caravaggio received his first public commission of work. The pieces centered around the life of St. Matthew.

Initially the commission consisted of two large paintings, Calling of St Matthew and Martyrdom of St Matthew 1599–1600, with the third, St Matthew and the Angel, added in 1602. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 –1610) was one of the most influential Italian painters of the 17th century. His work proposed a new form of gritty realism which answered the requirements of the counter reformation. However, it provoked great controversy and some critics found his style inappropriate when applied to religious contexts. His use of artificial and theatrical light lent a heightened sense of drama to the scenes and characters depicted, charging his paintings with an intense pathos.

Caravaggio, The Calling of St. Matthew, 1600

Initially the commission consisted of two large paintings, Calling of St Matthew and Martyrdom of St Matthew 1599–1600, with the third, St Matthew and the Angel, added in 1602. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 –1610) was one of the most influential Italian painters of the 17th century.

Caravaggio, The Martyrdom of St. Matthew, 1600

His work proposed a new form of gritty realism which answered the requirements of the counter reformation. However, it provoked great controversy and some critics found his style inappropriate when applied to religious contexts. His use of artificial and theatrical light lent a heightened sense of drama to the scenes and characters depicted, charging his paintings with an intense pathos.

Caravaggio, St. Matthew and the Angel, 1602

More recently the paintings have been the subject of a different type of controversy; David Hockney, Roberta Lapucci and others have suggested that the images were made using some form of optical system. Evidence supported by the high resolution documentation points towards this theory and Factum Arte is now working with the Spanish realist painter Manuel Franquelo to reveal how they believe the paintings were actually made. The result of this collaboration will be a short video that will be shown at the Research Centre.

The three facsimiles will allow academics and enthusiasts to view the works up close, and study them in great depth. The level and accuracy of the documentation is unparalleled.

Read the rest and see the video (do yourself a favor, DO NOT MISS THE VIDEO) at FACTUM arte.

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MARCUS AURELIUS

"Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and say, 'Why were things of this sort ever brought into this world?' neither intolerable nor everlasting - if thou bearest in mind that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing to it in imagination. Pain is either an evil to the body (then let the body say what it thinks of it!)-or to the soul. But it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquility."

VINCENT van GOGH

"What am I in the eyes of most people? A nonentity or an oddity or a disagreeable person — someone who has and will have no position in society, in short a little lower than the lowest. Very well — assuming that everything is indeed like that, then through my work I’d like to show what there is in the heart of such an oddity, such a nobody. This is my ambition, which is based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion. Even though I’m often in a mess, inside me there’s still a calm, pure harmony and music. In the poorest little house, in the filthiest corner, I see paintings or drawings. And my mind turns in that direction as if with an irresistible urge. As time passes, other things are increasingly excluded, and the more they are the faster my eyes see the picturesque. Art demands persistent work, work in spite of everything, and unceasing observation."

DAN CAMPBELL