Читать книгу Caravaggio - Félix Witting - Страница 8

From 1599 onwards Caravaggio received his first commissions from the congregation of the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, for whom he painted The Calling of Saint Matthew, The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew and the famous Saint Matthew and the Angel. “Regarding the works created for the Cardinal del Monte in the Cantarelli chapel of the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Saint Matthew and the Angel could be found beneath the altar; on the right-hand side, the apostle is being called by the Redeemer and on the left he is being stabbed by his persecutor, with a crowd of onlookers.”[44] These works, which can still be found in part in that very chapel, are closely linked to the renown of the artist from Lombardy. Caravaggio’s teacher Giuseppe Cesari, who had already decorated the ceiling of this chapel with frescos, is likely to have helped him to obtain this commission.[45] Caravaggio, who, it seems, never painted frescos, integrated his work into the completed decoration with monumental paintings set into the chapel. These canvases painted in oils did not really contribute to the budding Baroque style of the salons of the time, but the subtle technique and sombre colouring of their execution blended harmoniously with the light stucco of the space. The position of the chapel as the last on the left just before Rainaldi’s choir cupola, encouraged the painter to delve deeper into his imagination and resources. As the chapel was deliberately kept in darkness, the painter immediately set himself the task of introducing a scheme throughout the portrayals whereby the masses of light and shade and the coloured and neutral forms would be distributed between the works. In this way, only when all the works were seen together could their true effect be appreciated. A consideration for the architectonic conditions of the church building are clearly noticeable in the quieter composition of the left wall (The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew) and the scene of the right wall, which is built in a rising diagonal (The Calling of Saint Matthew), lending the chapel decorations as a whole an extremely organic integration into the building. The colouring is reduced to the strict minimum and the events are calculated in an almost authoritative manner, as is the setting of these events. On the whole the light and colour are carefully shed on the elements that the painter chooses to stress. This realisation encouraged the artist to highlight the attributes of the figures as he had never done before, so that they almost became an artistic phenomenon. Jakob Burckhardt explains that Caravaggio enjoyed proving to the observer that, despite all the holy events of former times, everything had happened in as ordinary a way as in the streets of end of the sixteenth century. He adds that Caravaggio loved nothing more than passion, whose volcanic eruption he could represent so well, even if he expressed it in numerous powerful, hideous characters.[46] This observation of the Romanesque element of the paintings highlights in a positive way that which Caravaggio, and Baroque art as a whole, must have found essential. This counts as much for the representation of a being capable of arbitrary movement and its surroundings as for the use of purely sensual means, or even through the use of characteristic traits in the case of a portrait for example. It is on this that Caravaggio concentrates in his cycle of Saint Matthew in the Contarelli Chapel, much more so than in his bambocciate.[47]

Martha and Mary Magdalene, c. 1598. Oil and tempera on canvas, 100 × 134.5 cm. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit.

With this understanding of the intentions of the Roman Baroque artists, Caravaggio decided to use light to an even greater extent in his paintings in order to highlight their demonic effect; this was the “light from above”,[48] which in reality resulted from the increasing use of lateral lighting in Baroque rooms, whether in churches, chapels or halls in the palazzi. With these natural architectural conditions, Caravaggio achieved a brilliant illumination in his paintings which, but only when in the right place, produced a wondrously harmonious effect. The choice and application of the pigments went hand in hand with Caravaggio’s sense of artistic style. A distinct sulphur-yellow for the background and a luminous colour for the intermediary plane created the bearings from which he was able to form the space with his subject, and gave, from the first glance, a primary hierarchy to the scene. According to Baglione, however, this disorientated young artists, even the most talented amongst them. With these essential tools Caravaggio created the foundations of a Baroque style which prevailed throughout the seventeenth century, and which was entirely different to the style of his pre-Roman works. Therefore when Federigo Zucchero declared in front of Caravaggio’s paintings in San Luigi dei Francesi that he saw nothing in them but Giorgione’s thoughts,[49] then his judgement meant little more than an exhortation that Caravaggio should work towards an even more personalised manner of painting. At heart, the heroic character of the works had nothing in common with the balanced style of the Venetian master of the High Renaissance.

The chapel achieved its full effect through Caravaggio’s work of art, which at that time was on the altar. It depicts Saint Matthew and the Angel and is now in the art gallery of the Berliner Museum, in trust.[50] “The work pleased no one,” reported Baglione, so that it required the artistic sense of the Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani to save the rejected picture. “The latter took them, because they were the works of Caravaggio,” adds the biographer. If we look past the extremely realistic figure of the Evangelist, which at first does not stand out, and focus on the activity of the scene, the eye is drawn into a whirl of highs and lows, of heights and depths, of light and shade and of coloured and monochrome areas, whose harmonious application and distribution suggest an eminently personal artistic sense. Palestrina’s style of mass setting would have to be called upon in order to characterise this peculiar overlapping of arioso and recitativo secco, and to describe the attraction of this most daring of Caravaggio’s compositions. The angel, who holds the hand of the bending Evangelist in a slightly affected manner, is very close in style to the shepherd boy from the Capitolinian Collection, and the Cupid of the two allegories of love. However, here he appears even more natural and sovereign-like – a real model for Saraceni, who tried to capture this element of Caravaggio’s art, without, as the angel in his Rest on the Flight into Egypt in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj in Rome shows, achieving the rigorous strength of his teacher.[51] Caravaggio’s attempt to depict the messenger from heaven in a more adult, and at the same time more human, way than art had done so far cannot go unnoticed. In the same way that Cupid, traditionally represented as a putto, becomes an adolescent boy full of self-confidence and coquetry, Caravaggio’s depiction of the celestial companions of the holy figures is also radical.

Medusa, 1595–1597. Oil on canvas mounted on a poplar wood shield, 60 × 55 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

Narcissus, 1596–1598. Oil on canvas, 113.3 × 95 cm. Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini, Rome.

His first successes, however, had a shadow cast over them by the refusal of several major works by some of his commissioners, as was the case in the cycle of Saint Matthew in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi. This was also the case in The Conversion of Saint Paul and The Crucifixion of Saint Peter destined for the Cerasi Chapel. Next, Caravaggio painted a Saint Anna Metterza, the Madonna dei Palafrenieri, which makes reference to the commissioners. Today this painting can be found in the Borghese Gallery, and it is of the same style as that of the Madonna di Loreto, but further developed. The three figures, Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus, are depicted standing, almost like sculptures, an aspect which is all the more emphasised by the neutral background. The figure of the young Christ, who is portrayed as a boy of around ten years of age, symbolically crushes the head of a snake, and shows a close resemblance to the adolescent models of the altar-piece of San Luigi dei Francesi and the Madonna di Loreto. Mary appears more mature and detailed in comparison with the picture in San Agostino, while Saint Anna, as donna abbrunata, evokes the wailing old woman in The Entombment in the Vatican. The pale greenish tone that permeates the painting clearly highlights Caravaggio’s light from above, and removes all familiar warmth from the colours and complexion. This was probably the excuse for the church authorities of San Pietro in Vaticano to have the painting removed from the altar. It was probably the reason why the Roman Curia of Saint Peter’s in the Vatican removed the work from the altar. Baglione reports that following this decision, the work was offered to Cardinal Scipione Borghese as a present, and it went from the Cardinal’s possession to the Borghese Gallery.

In his great altar-piece for the Church of Santa Maria della Scala in Rome, Caravaggio used a more favourable light. From the possession of the Duke of Mantua, who acquired the piece, and in whose gallery it was kept until the beginning of the nineteenth century, this work came into the collection in the Louvre.[52] It depicts a subject rarely seen in Italian paintings: The Death of the Virgin. Whilst a recurrent theme in Nordic art, prior to Caravaggio’s work it was only seen in Italian art in a painting by Carpaccio, now in the Ferrara Gallery, and in another by Salvo d’Antonio as part of an altar-piece for the Cathedral in Messina. Caravaggio endowed his work with a great magnificence, without for one moment suppressing his talent for expressing grief and pain in the most energetic way. These apostles, who are mourning the Virgin, are rough, rustic fellows, and the holy woman, who is sitting on a wooden chair at the foot of the bed, is a maid of humble origin. They express their feelings in the natural manner of simple beings; without measure and without beauty. Their profound grief is completely honest in its representation. Caravaggio achieved this narrative art through the careful modelling of the figures, which, surpassing the expression of all his previous works, indicate the future evolution of his painting. Despite the apparent irrationality in the composition, for the first time in his work a spatial depth was achieved that seems conscious. The body of the Virgin, which has been laid diagonally from left to right, drawing the eye to the furthest planes of the painting, helps to create this sense of depth. This impact is reinforced by the young girl seated in the foreground, who, acting as a foil for this complex composition, highlights Caravaggio’s new insights into the determining factors in the composition of an image, despite their tentativeness at this stage. An enormous curtain, almost like a velarium, which stretches across the shaded upper part of the image, also gives a certain depth to the painting. Far from decorative in intention, as the Bolognese School used such a motif, the drapery lends the work an aura of great gravity. Its deep red, with variations of lighter and darker shades, makes the colour range of the lower parts, which are placed in bright light or chiaroscuro, livelier and more charming partially through the thick application of the pigments. The brethren of Santa Maria della Scala also refused The Death of the Virgin because, to represent the Virgin, the painter used the portrait of a courtesan. In addition, the “bloated” corpse of the Virgin was deemed “too human”, and the copper bowl full of vinegar for washing the body did not convince them. However, no less a painter than Peter Paul Rubens recognised the significance of the painting; he is said to have persuaded the Duke of Mantua to buy it.[53]

Yet at no time did Caravaggio abandon the manner of painting which he had developed, and he pursued with perseverance his search for original aesthetic concepts. Although he was obliged to rework all his canvases because of the religious reservations of his patrons, his artistic faith remained unaltered and his submission was only superficial.

At the beginning of the year 1600, when Giordano Bruno was tortured in Rome, Caravaggio’s manner was still being developed, and the first signs of his subversive attitude towards the religious institutions which then dominated the eternal city were already perceptible. During the Counter-Reformation, Pope Clement VIII, taken by a violent desire for order and repression, decided to “clean” the streets of Rome and undertook a series of measures against street gatherings, gaming, the carrying of weapons and prostitution. It was precisely during this period that Caravaggio painted the “profane” works which brought him renown and which he populated with people he had met in the streets. In this climate of religious repression, it is difficult to have a precise idea of the painter’s convictions, even more so as the pope had recently removed from a church an altarpiece on which a representation of Saint Catherine had offended him.

The Taking of Christ, 1602. Oil on canvas, 133.5 × 169.5 cm. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.

Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, future Pope Urban VIII, 1598–1599. Oil on canvas, 124 × 90 cm. Private collection, Florence.

Nevertheless, the painter did not abandon his mission to renew the style of painting at the risk of going against the jurisdiction of the religious authorities. The work of this rationalist Naturalist expressed the mysteries and miracles of Christianity in the way that many artists have represented the gods of pagan classicism. The more important the transcendental content of the events and stories experienced by biblical characters, the less the painter had recourse to traditional religious symbols. The Penitent Magdalene painted in 1596–1597, one of his first religious works, illustrates Caravaggio’s pictorial choices. Far from the traditional representations which set Mary Magdalene in the desert, he places the young woman, not undressed but richly clothed, in a dark interior traversed by a ray of light, and places on the ground a small perfume bottle and next to it, as a symbol of the material wealth from which she will progressively turn away, some scattered jewellery. Contrary to the sculpture in wood by Donatello that one can see in the Bargello Museum in Florence, Caravaggio’s Magdalene is embodied by a young woman from a good family, who is living an interior experience, progressively possessed by divine grace. The painter, through his aesthetic choices, breaks decisively with earlier representations of the saint’s life. His later religious works are also imaginative and innovative, giving the saints a new face, representing unusual episodes in their lives and introducing unorthodox details into the scene.

Following a commission from Ciriaco Mattei, Caravaggio also painted the scene “when Our Lord walked to Emmaus”. From this quotation by Caravaggio’s biographer, one might think that the artist had depicted Christ’s encounter with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, but such a version has not been found amongst his surviving works. We do, however, have three versions depicting the moment when Christ makes himself known to the disciples in Emmaus. One painting which portrays this scene, found in the National Gallery in London was, according to information from the catalogue, created for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, and may in all likelihood be regarded as the original.[54] There is a copy which is probably in Milan, and another replica is in the church of Notre-Dame in Bruges;[55] the former is very similar to that from Caravaggio’s studio, the latter is assumed to be the hand of a Flemish successor. The London painting demonstrates a delightful sweetness regarding the presence of the figures. The phrase “passion leads to art” also belonged to the gospel of the Carracci,[56] but for them it was more a fancy for modelling the muscular physique than for the power of psychological expression. Here, the tone of the scene is reminiscent of the style of Caravaggio’s bambocciate, as the artist knew them. The painting depicts a group in a tavern, where the wine has clearly been flowing. Yet in other parts of the painting there is such nobility, a transcendence that shines through despite its material slant, and due solely to these shimmering, profane and supernatural creatures the piece has a special charm. The tavern’s landlord, who himself appears in the scene, gives a sense of reality to this image of the miraculous. At the same time, the colouring is so intense that for this reason alone it should be recognised as one of the most balanced and enticing works produced by Caravaggio, who otherwise favoured dark tones. The picture trade, based on fast production, which he had run together with Prosperino delle Grottesche shortly before, seems to have been of such importance to him that he had guaranteed a certain freshness of invention.[57]

The Supper at Emmaus is significant for the distance the painter allows himself to go: in the representation of Jesus appearing to the two disciples, Caravaggio chooses to humorously represent an innkeeper wearing his hat accompanied by a waitress, both of whom are dressed in seventeenth-century attire. This technique, which gives the scene a certain shift in time, had already been used by the painter in his first painting of Mary Magdalene. For the painting The Conversion of Saint Paul that one can see in the Cesari chapel, Caravaggio, ignoring the celestial vision, prefers to anchor the scene in the material reality of a horse-riding accident which symbolises the shock experienced by the apostle. Caravaggio, who in the paintings of Saint Matthew in the chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi had already tried to revolutionise and renew the fundamental laws of painting, outdid this monument to his recently-discovered style in an even more magnificent way in the paintings he carried out for the Cerasi for their chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. On the right-hand wall of the chapel to the left of the nave, directly next to the choir,[58] is The Conversion of Saint Paul, and on the left-hand wall The Crucifixion of Saint Peter. J. Burckhardt’s judgement of the works, in which his dislike of Caravaggio is clearly expressed, remains exaggerated and restricts access to the understanding of an important moment in the Baroque.[59] His reproach concerning the horse, from which the apostle has slid following his vision, which almost completely fills the picture on its own, seems unjustified given the mastery of the application of the paint in the forms and colours. On the contrary, it is the contrast between the struck-down animal and the divine messenger who is standing in the background which renders the impact even more significant. From a purely artistic point of view, this pushing of enormous corporeal masses into the foreground marks the point at which painting left its previous tendencies behind.