The Artist
Caravaggio is not an artist you’ll forget about. In the the BBC documentary (see below), Simon Schama says of Caravaggio, “if he acted like a devil, he painted like an angel.” He was a murderer. He was likely murdered himself, but only after dramatic prison breaks, leaving behind a trail of violence and debauchery, and changing western art forever. He was the ultimate bad boy artist.
He was a hero to Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet and generations of artists held him in the highest regard. Perhaps the greatest ever in their eyes. Picasso is quoted as complaining to Salvador Dali that he wished he could make the horse in Guernica smell like the horse in The Conversion of St. Paul.
In person, his work is easy to recognize. Extreme, dark shadows with brilliant but limited light. He’s controversial, then especially, for how he brought the bible to life in a shocking realism not previously seen. This includes depicting saints as regular people, often poor; his models often prostitutes. He had a raging temper that caused havoc in his life but also seemed to drive his art, which is often violent and quite gory. (In fact, for our now 5 and 3 year olds we’d tend to skirt past his more disturbing works. You’ll have to make that decision for your kids, but if it helps any our 13 year old niece was not traumatized. We suspect kids 10+ would be able to see his works without harm occurring.)
Our experience
In 2008 and 2016 we saw several Caravaggios in Florence (Uffizi Gallery) and in Rome (Borghese Gallery, Vatican museum) where he made a name for himself in the late 1500s. In Rome, while you’re walking the main promenade past the Spanish Steps on your way to the Trevi fountain or Piazza Navona you have the chance to see his work, in situ, meaning in the place he painted it for 400 years ago.
The Basilica de Santa Maria del Popolo has his work and is well worth the 5 minutes it takes to enter the side door and walk around the place. It’s hard to get up close to the works like in a museum but the trade off is that you are standing where he stood when he was commissioned by his patrons.
Resources
Smarthistory has two fantastic videos on these works:
And should you find yourself a bit further south, near the magnificent Pantheon, just a few streets away is the San Luigi dei Francesi that houses three more Caravaggios. For the cost of an optional donation you can take the family into these beautiful churches and see real Caravaggios as they were intended to be seen. Amazing!!
talk soon,
Dan & Betsy
- read:
- Bad boy Caravaggio NPR article (5 min)
- Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane by Andrew Graham-Dixon
- author and art critic Big Think video on the self-promoting and marketing skills of Caravaggio in cutthroat 16th century Rome (5 min)
- watch:
- the first episode of BBC’s brilliant The Power of Art docu-series on Caravaggio (59 min)
- National Gallery London covers Caravaggios Life and Style in three paintings(30 min)
- alternative: Smarthistory touches on a favorite Caravaggio of ours, Supper at Emmaus (4 min)
Family discussion topic: Bad guy, great artist. Ask the kids what they think of that. Is it ok to behave in certain ways if you’re exceptionally talented?
How should we (you and your family) think about this as you see his famous paintings?