Caravaggio: the master of light.
5, The Musicians.
Completed circa 1595, The Musicians is believed to have been Caravaggio’s first painting done
expressly for his patron Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte. The canvas portrays four
boys in traditional costume, three playing various musical instruments or singing,
whilst the fourth is dressed as Cupid, the god of love, and is reaching towards a bunch of grapes.
Caravaggio appears to have composed the painting from studies of two figures.
The central figure with the lute has been identified as Caravaggio’s companion,
Mario Minniti, and the individual next to him and facing the viewer is possibly a self-portrait of
the artist. The Cupid bears a strong resemblance to the youth in Boy Peeling Fruit, completed a
few years before and now recognised as being the earliest surviving work by the artist.
The manuscripts reveal that the boys are practicing madrigals that celebrate
love, and the eyes of the lutenist, the principal figure, are moist with tears,
as the songs presumably describe the sorrow of love rather than its pleasures. The violin in the
foreground suggests a fifth participant, perhaps implicitly including the viewer in the tableau.
Scenes depicting musicians were a popular theme at the time, when the Church was supporting a revival
of music and new styles and forms were being adopted, especially by educated and progressive
Churchmen such as Del Monte. This depicted scene, however, is clearly secular rather than religious,
inspired by the long-established tradition of ‘concert’ pictures, a genre originating
in Venice and exemplified, in its earlier form, by Titian’s Le concert champêtre.
6,
Bacchus.
This 1595 painting is now housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, and depicts a youthful Bacchus,
reclining with grapes and vine leaves in his hair, whilst touching the drawstring of his
loosely-draped robe. By a stone table in front of him is a bowl of fruit and a large carafe
of red wine. Bacchus holds out to the viewer a shallow goblet containing the wine, apparently
inviting us to join him in his revelries. Bacchus’ offering of the wine with his left hand,
despite the obvious effort this is causing the model, has led to speculation that Caravaggio
used a mirror to assist himself while working from life, obviating the need for drawing.
In other words, what appears to us as the boy’s left hand was actually his right. This theory
agrees with the comment made by Caravaggio’s early biographer, the artist Giovanni Baglione,
who claimed the artist produced his early paintings using a mirror.
Bacchus was completed shortly after Caravaggio joined the household of his first
important patron, Cardinal Del Monte and the work demonstrates the humanist
interests of the Cardinal’s educated circle. The canvas was not in the cardinal’s collection
at his death and may have been a gift to the Grand Duke in Florence.
Surprisingly, the painting remained unknown until 1913, when it was found in a storeroom
of the Uffizi Galleries, having never been catalogued or framed until that time.
7, Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
Completed in 1598, this painting, now part of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection of Madrid,
depicts Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the popular figure of Catholic iconography. Of noble origin,
Catherine had dedicated herself as a Christian after receiving a vision. At the age of eighteen
she was confronted by the Roman Emperor Maximus and succeeded in converting many of his followers
to Christianity. Imprisoned by the Emperor, she converted his Empress and the leader of his
armies. Maximus executed her converts, including the Empress, before ordering Catherine herself
to be put to death on a spiked wheel. The wheel reportedly shattered the moment Catherine touched
it. Maximus then ordered her to be beheaded. Catherine became the patron saint of libraries
and librarians, as well as teachers, archivists and all those associated with wisdom and teaching,
as well as trades people whose livelihoods depend upon wheels. The year of her martyrdom
was traditionally held to have been 305 AD and her feast day was celebrated on 25 November.
Saint Catherine’s qualities are recorded in legend as being those of beauty, fearlessness,
virginity and intelligence, as demonstrated by Caravaggio’s bold portrayal of the saint,
as she defiantly clasps a sword to her breast beside the wheel, illuminated in light on the
left side of the painting. The saint’s face is titled to the side, giving a pensive look,
demonstrating the saint’s intelligent nature, as she contemplates her divine fate.
Of particular note is the fine detail of the blue garment, partially covering the wheel and
its centre, perhaps softening the threat of violence and danger to the saint.
8, Judith Beheading Holofernes.
Completed in 1599, this large canvas concerns the deutero-canonical Book of Judith,
recounting how the widow Judith saved her people by seducing and killing Holofernes, the Assyrian
general. In the book, Judith charms Holofernes, encourages him to drink wine and become drunk
and then decapitates him in his tent: “Approaching to his bed, she took hold of
the hair of his head, and said, Strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, this day! And she smote twice
upon his neck with all her might, and she took away his head from him.” (Judith, 13:7-8).
The beheading of Holofernes was a popular subject of medieval art, depicted by Donatello,
Botticelli, Giorgione and Lucas Cranach the Elder, as well as many others. Caravaggio
chose to approach the subject from the most dramatic moment of the story, the act of
decapitation itself. The figures are set out in a narrow area, theatrically lit from the left,
isolated against the dark background. Judith is assisted by her old maid, Abra, wonderfully
portrayed with wrinkles furrowed on her forehead, standing anxiously to the right. Judith stands
upright over Holofernes, though slightly bending back, hinting at the unpleasantness of her task.
Recently, X-rays have revealed that Caravaggio adjusted the placement of Holofernes’ head,
separating it to some extent from the torso and moving it a little to the right.
The faces of the three characters demonstrate the artist’s mastery of emotion,
with Judith’s face in particular demonstrating a masterful blend of determination and disgust.
9, Narcissus.
Now housed in the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Rome,
this 1598 painting was originally attributed to Caravaggio by Roberto Longhi in 1916.
Narcissus is one of only two known works by Caravaggio on a theme from Classical mythology,
the other being Bacchus, although there may have been several more works that have been lost.
The story of Narcissus is narrated by the Roman poet Ovid in his epic poem Metamorphoses and
concerns a handsome youth, who falls in love with his own reflection. Unable to tear himself away,
he dies of his passion and even as he crosses the Styx, he continues looking down at his own
reflection. The tale was well known in the circles of collectors, such as Cardinal Francesco Maria
del Monte and the banker Vincenzo Giustiniani, in which Caravaggio was moving at this period.
Caravaggio portrays the youth wearing an elegant brocade doublet,
leaning with both hands over the water, as he gazes at this own distorted reflection. The
image conveys an air of brooding melancholy, as the figure of Narcissus is locked in a continual
circle with his reflection, surrounded by darkness that appears unable to end.
Even his face is obscured in shadow from the viewer, emphasising the youth’s loss of reality.