I spent the last 2 weeks on a quest to see the Caravaggio’s
of Rome, Naples and Sicily. I took a group of students and the journey was
incredible. The paths to grasping the complexity
of Caravaggio’s paintings are multiple and variable. Michelangelo
Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) chiaroscuro style, is gorgeous and stark with
its dramatic angled lighting, deeply shadowed backgrounds and heart-wrenching
contorted figures.
The Rome and Naples paintings are unmatched in breadth and
depth. Caravaggio does what no painter before or since has been able to
accomplish. The compositions are so complex but yet appear so simple. The
movement of light is in a world of its own and his muted palette against
vibrant hues makes flesh tones and drama explode out of the painting. It is as
if the painting is alive and the sitters will start talking to you at any
moment.
The most interesting phase of Caravaggio’s late career was
surely the years he spent in Malta and Sicily. In 1608 Caravaggio was on the
run escaping from the Maltese jail and took refuge in Syracuse. It was
incredible to see these large works and especially the Burial of Saint Lucy.
The painting was executed in three months in time for the December 13
celebration of St. Lucy feast day (October –December 13). He worked from live
models in the Basilica of Santa Lucia al Sepolcro in the Borgata. To see the
space where he worked and the lighting brings the painting full circle. A lot
of experts believe he rushed it and left parts completely undone but if you see
the setting in which it was painted you understand the mud of earth tones that
he used was accurate and emotive. The
Sicilian works are unique on so many levels. Caravaggio was near the end and
would be dead in two years. The amount of work that he finished in this time is
remarkable!
As I dug deeper into his work I found a man who was flawed
but sincere in his convictions. Caravaggio was grateful and loyal to his
friends. He was not only a murderer but also a victim; not only a genius, not
only an imperfect man with faults, but also a worthy person who understood the
human condition and empathy at the deepest level. Nec Spe Nec Metu-Without
Hope-Without Fear! He lived a short and violent life but what he gave in return
was the reality of this imperfect world we live in.
