Caravaggio - A life sacred and profane 3rd November 2021

Caravaggio: A life sacred and profane 3rd November 2021. Andrew Graham Dixon from Scotland. Painting of the painting of Christ whre he met a lady whose great grand father acquired a Caravaggio which is worth 41M pounds and now is at the Jesuit college in Dublin and then moved to Ireland's National Gallery. There will be breaks. Caravagio makes many enemies soon after leaving Rome. He paints comissions, among one one for a cardinal, the last soup at the National Gallery. This is not painting, this is life perpetuated - Luis Ortega and Gassete. That's how Andrew feels about this painting:

In their way to Emaus, two disciples met Jesus. That is what he paints in this painting. He reverses to a bizantine image of Christ (late Roman), Christ is depicted as if he were Apollo (without a beard, Jesus appear in an unfamiliar form at that time). They go to dinner together and they eat a meal. Bellori ciritizes this picture, lacking in decorum, the inkeeper has the hat on. These three ragged poor people have arrived there and so they are served. Are they going to be able to pay? The in keeper does not know he is Jesus. Jesus blesses and the disciples realize he is talking to Christ!! The chair is one Caravaggio owned when living in Rome. It is a Sabonaroma chair. Jesus blaises the bread and the apostles say it is You! You have revealed yourself, he is about to disappear but at this moment he is there. In this painting, Caravaggio says, if it really happened it would be like this. God does not reveal his mistery in any way. Paradoxically, the in-keeper with the hat off, casts a shadow behind Jesus. God reveals himself in a shadow on the wall, giving a halo to Christ. The frut which contains rotting apples and pears, are symbols of the transients of the mortal self. The word Ictos (fish in Greek) became a synonim to Christos because of the sounding of the word, so the fish becomes a symbol of Jesus. Then Caravaggio is invited back to the Frend church where he began his carreer. The painting is about Matthew, Mateo Contorelli, he paints St. Matthew for the alter. Matthew is the first of the Gospel according to legend, to be written. When he writes his gospel it is the first time someone writes a biblical account of Jesus. This is the subject of the painting. The moment when he sits dow to write the Gospel:

Matthew was probably iliterate, but in this painting Matthew represents the virtuous of the Franciscan order. Caravaggios makes him a peasant like figure that almost says he is too iliterate to write the Gospel. Why is this in black and white? Because it was destroyed, burned in the fires of Berlin i 1945, but why was it there? It was torned down from the comissioners (the French church) for being to vulgar and too emphasized on the poverty and virtues of the Franciscans. But mainly because of the left foot which is too indignified for Matthew. Caravaggio was spreading a version of Christianity deeply rooted in poverty of Christ and his disciples, so you do not create images that involve the poor. This is politically incorrect, there are those in the church who emphasize the virgin as the queen of Heavens, so there is a real fear that if the poor feel the church as theirs it will be the end of it. Caravaggio is a left-wing painter where the church at this time is becomming increasingly right-wing. Caravaggio is asked to paint a replacement:

So Matthew is inspired by God. He is still a poor man but he has divine inspiration. His feet are now soles away. The clothes are fully but a drapery which denotes more scholarly characteristcis. He is a more dignified figure, this was accepted. The previous painting is pure Caravaggio, promoting a church for the poor. He is adjusting to his clients really. But in this context (art as expression of religious belief) there are always tensions with the church. The next picture (Thomas' questioning), talks to the poor and iliterate, they really explain what is going on and what the gospels say literally. The picture is lost and there exist only a black and white copy in Berlin. The Church then painted another Matthew, he doesn't abandon his left-wing beliefs and includes elements in relation to Matthew's poverty. This is the mid-Roman period of Caravaggio's. This tension explains what happens to Caravaggio over the years. Poor people brought up to believe through example. This picture is fascinating:

Caravaggio owns a pair of Angel's wings and uses his studio helper to pose with it. Love conquers all. Everything is squashed beneath this boy's feet. It was use to inaguarate a wedding, forget everything now, have sex with your wife and make babies like the one you see. Copulate and have fun. The picture was priced by Vincenzo he gave Caravaggio a gold collar which arose envy from others: Giovanni Valioni. Giovanni wrote a biography of Caravaggio even though he hated him. Valioni was so jealous he said the boy was Caravaggios sex slave "bardassa". There may some truth about this as Mao (the boy) had slept with him. Valioni painted this:

Shows Michael saving the child from the Devil who is trying to have his way with the boy. It is so obvious Valioni is trying to make Caravaggio gay because back in Rome he would have been killed if accused of being gay. The Devil, by the way, is a portrait of Caravaggio.He then comissioned to paint his first picture at Saint Peter's, but it is standard, very aligned with the Church. The only deviation is Mary is in red, as Franciscans prefer to simbolyse the blood connection between Mary and the child. The painting gets reject by the Church and no body know why exactly. A clue, maybe the models were prostitutes since it was forbiden to be alone with a woman; somebody realized and the picture was rejected. It was betrayal and a turning point in his life. And then Caravaggio paints this:

It hangs in the Louvre because it was sold to Charles the First by the Duke of Mantua. The Duke had it because Roubens got it Rome in 1606 because a painting by Caravaggio painted for the Church was again turned down! The death of the Virgin. It was rejected because of one of his enemies suggested the picture of the Virgin was the likeness of the prostitute. But maybe the real reason is because it is so much of a painting that cligns on the idea of poor in Heaven. It is a moving picture of people coming to pay respects to someone who has just died. Where is her soul? Caravaggio is saying in my view resurrection is not obvious, it is just what it is but you should expect something else. The rejection of this painting reaches a climax with his rivalry with Valioni. He meets with an old enemy and stage a tennis match, they fake the match and fake an argument and do this because if you get caught dueling you are executed immediatly. So effectively the tennis match is a duel, the result is Caravaggio killing Tomasoni. He catches the artery and Tomassoni blades to death. Caravaggio was wounded and the accompanying people were all hurted. Caravaggio immediatly ran to the house Palace of the Colona family. He was sentenced to death by Ciapiani Borguesi, the nephew of the new pope. Borguesi claimed he wanted the head of Caravaggio, he wanted all his body but capital punishement (the head) would do. This picture is of that moment:

The idea is the same, but the apostles are less astonished, the shadows look darker. It is as if the lights had been turned down. This picture was not painted in 1610, but at this stage, when it downs on him he is being persecuted. The boy is Mausolinni, Caravaggio's lover, he becomes a painter himself at a later life. He follows Caravaggio during this period. The Goliath is Caravaggio himself. It is his own face, the picture, what is the meaning? Caravaggio has been accused by Borghessi, the same family where today we see a gallery. Cipioni Burghesse is an art collecter, he loves Caravaggio's paintings. The painting is given to Ciprianim, he literally has Caravaggio's head with him. Cipriani doesn't like to Caravaggio runs to Naples and paints this:

The Christian's duties. Feeding the hungry, etc. Seven acts of mercy, that's what he paints. It is a tragedy he is made to work very out of the way, out of the centres of power. But in Naples, in the south of Italy, he finds more inspiration among poor people. In Rome they were a preocupation but in the south it was a way of living. Remember at this stage that part of Italy is part of Spain's kingdom. Marquez de Constanza Colona, supports Caravaggio personally. No matter what happens Constanza supports him. His always in Colona hands, residences, palaces. At the moment Caravaggio was about to go to Malta. The reason is because Constanza had a son who committed a terrible time so the Pople pardoned him only if he went to Malta. So, Caravaggio goes follows his son who at this time became a Christian knight. He arrives in Naples the very day Caravaggio goes to Malta. He paints a lot of characters in Malta at this stage. When Caravaggio goes south the South doesn't believe its luck! Never an artist this big goes there. One of the sitters asks the Pope to make Caravaggio a Knight of Malta. How? By painting an amazing picture of the martirdoom of St. John the Baptist at the oratory in Malta:

In here soldiers were sent to fight, plunder, invade abroad. If you get caught this is what will happens to you. It is about what will happen to a kinght of Malta if he gets caught. This painting is signed by him. With this painting he says he is saved, he now will sign everything, he will out of hidding and will go back in the habits of a Knight of Malta. But no. Two days before the painting on the day of St. John's but what Caravaggio does? Shoots a Knight of Malta in the groin. What may have happened to him? He did not feel safe when safe, he felt safe only when he was dangerous. Caravaggio is thrown into the well, they put the lid on but he scapes! He goes to Sicily. This is his last picture:

It is painted as if he could not hold the brush any more. His self portrait is also here. The picture was left in the sun after painted. It was sent to Genoa, accompanied by an apology, Caravaggio apologises because he left it in the sun and cracks are visible. Four weeks after the painting was sent from Naples to Genoa, Caravaggio left to Rome for the last time. He took his paintings, he stroke a deal with Cirpiani, he put his stuff on a boat. The man with half a face, a man unwell sets off for Rome. When Caravaggio got to Rome he was arrested, his papers were not in order. He walked from Rome and was imprissioned in Tuscany, the boat with all his paintings was on the coast. When he got to porto Herculi he died.