Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio born 1572 in Milan, Italy. Caravaggio, was an Italian artist who worked and practice mostly in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. He is most famous for his paintings of flowers and fruit in his factory-like workshop, a small Boy Peeling a Fruit (his earliest known painting), a boy with a Basket of Fruit, and a young Sick Bacchus, supposedly a self-portrait done while healing from a serious illness that ended his employment for a while in 1594.…

In this essay I’ll be discussing the history of Baroque art and two artist from that era, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Then I’ll explain the role of the church during this era and how Caravaggio and Bernini differently conveyed faith and commitment to the church. Lastly, I’ll give my visual analyze on Bernini’s painting Ecstasy of St. Teresa and Caravaggio’s painting Crucifixion of St. Peter. The Baroque era came about from the Reformation which was a religious…

the seventeenth century. Most artists began painting about realistic events happening at this time. This style of art was intended to create a “visual space that moved away from the viewer in parallel planes”. (Sayre691) Some artists such as, Caravaggio and Gentileschi concentrated on the use of contrasts in dark and light colors. This was a time where the artist focused on the details of their paintings and the real world in their work and religious views. By using the dark and light colors…

table setting, and people off the street you would find around Rome to pose and model for each person at the table. This example shows that while Caravaggio did not do the traditional genre painting and sketches like Carracci, he instead used genre painting to give a more realistic tone to his religious pieces and made them feel more down to Earth. Caravaggio would take his models and paint them first as they appear, then transform the world around them, into iconic figures in biblical stories.…

As typical of Caravaggio, “Bacchus” is cloaked in darkness with only the central figure covered in light. In the painting the central figure is Bacchus. He is sitting on a recliner and is holding a glass of wine. His arm is slightly outstretched as is offering the viewer…

Baroque painting focused on portrait art, similar to Caravaggio, but also looked into landscape paintings, portraying humans as tiny figures in the landscape’s plain. Caravaggio differed from other artists of the time such as Anthony Van Dyck and Jan Vermeer. Caravaggio’s paintings included peasants, innkeepers, gamblers, and other lower class subjects. The lower…

for two days before it was removed because it was deemed unpious, possibly due to the revealing cut of Mary’s dress. The wrinkling on her mother’s face probably didn't help, as the piece was meant to be inspirational, not nearly as realistic as Caravaggio depicted. Already a fan of his work, the Cardinal was quick to purchase the piece for his own collection, where it served as an excellent example of Caravaggio's use of tenebrism, with his modeling of St.…

Artists, even if seen in a different light from other forms of celebrity, are still prominent figures in culture. Each of their histories creates their individual artistic personality. Van Gough’s art for instance is most likely seen through the framework of his sufferings. How does knowing that Van Gough killed himself change his works? This is truly a question that can only be answered in the mind of each individual viewer. The list of instances and examples of illicit artists is long and…

The Spanish, like Jusepe de Ribera, did not find themselves in Italy by accident, rather for design. In the 16th and 17th Century, for example, The Spanish focused on the political realities of Italy and focused on the Spanish imperial domination of Italy’s formal and informal states, but also focused on globalizing the artistic styles that had become so popular during this time. Spanish Baroque artist Jusepe de Ribera is most known for his later works, such as A Greek Sage, ca. 1630, and is…

At first glance, we assume that Caravaggio has intentionally diminished the luminescence of the Divine figure of Christ, and chose to represent Him in a very human and less mystical form. Instead of a grand halo, we see a modest light encircling His head, and the greater draw is towards His posture in calling the saint-to-be, Matthew. But there are other elements that may suggest Divinity – for instance, the great beam of light shining through the window casts a forceful presence and unnatural…