BiiiCaravaggio, a Baroque artist
BiiiCaravaggio, a Baroque artist, uses foreshortening, tenebrism, and perspective in his paintings. His painting, the Calling of Saint Peter, is depicted from Matthew 9:9. Both figures are identified by the ray of light coming from the window and their gesture. Compared to the renaissance, which painted religious paintings as divine, Caravaggio clothes his subjects in ordinary clothing for the viewer to identify with them. Furthermore, the setting is in a tavern, which is a commonplace setting. Christ calls Matthew to a higher calling, and Matthew in disbelief points out to himself. Conflict is also narrated in the painting by Matthew. He is pointing to himself with one while the other hand is clinging to the coins on the table. The two men who seem oblivious of Christ and busy counting money symbolize those who are aware of the spiritual and those who are not. Caravaggio’s intense naturalism is enabled by both foreshortening and tenebrism. The sharp contrast between light and dark creates mystery and drama, which intrigues the viewer more to the scene. Foreshortening, the compression of form is also used so that the forms appear to move towards the viewer, creating detailed drawings. Lastly, in the painting, Caravaggio mimics Michelangelo’s creation of Adam. Christ’s extended arm is a spitting image of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam of God’s though the position of his hand and wrist mimic’s Adams. The emulation is symbolic of the redemption of man. Christ is the second Adam who has come to redeem humanity.
The second painting by Caravaggio that displays his talent is the Conversion of Saint Paul, 1601. The picture narrates the biblical story of the conversion of Saul, who is later called Paul. There is a sharp array of light against the background of darkness. The array of light is the divine light that converts Paul to Christianity. On the second interpretation, the rider may have had a mere horse accident. Caravaggio uses a low horizontal line to augment the sense of inclusion and foreshortening to make the subjects closer to the viewer. The high contrast of light and dark also intensifies the naturalism and drama. It is as if the viewer is witnessing the conversion with his inclusive styles. The divine light in Paul’s conversion is similar to Bernini’s light in the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.
CARAVAGGIO’S INFLUENCER
Gianlorenzo Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa,1645-1652, Marble, Italy. Bernini did stage designs and wrote plays, which he later incorporated the experiences in his sculptures. In the ecstasy of Saint Teresa, the angle and Saint Teresa’s texture of clothes are different to differentiate the heavenly and earthly body. Saint Teresa and the angel appear to be floating while light pours from above. A white dove which illuminates with light that comes from the Holy Spirit is also noticeable. However, the light is from a broken window behind the light fresco that allows light to penetrate the figures.
ARTISTS INFLUENCED BY CARAVAGGIO
Artemisia Gentileschi was strongly influenced by Caravaggio’s use of light and dark and the drama it created. Her portrait is a narrative of a Judith, a widow from Bethulia who hatches a plan to kill the general of Assyria, who has their country under siege. She dresses seductively to catch the attention of the Assyrian general. When he is drank and asleep, she decapitates him. The dark background creates a shallow space and helps in capturing the details. The splattered blood on the white sheets, the struggle of the general in his half-asleep half-drunken state, is foreshortened to involve the viewer. The painter’s use of implied diagonal lines also helps in nearing the subjects to the observer.
In the same wavelength, Peter Paul Rubens’, Elevation of the Cross Incorporated Caravaggio’s tenebrism and some of the Baroque use of style. He incorporated the diagonal lines standard in the Baroque art, which detailed the strain of the carriers of Jesus’ body and depicted the motion. To involve the viewer, he foreshortened the portrait for the subjects to be seen in detail. Therefore,the dirt of the carrier’s leg, the huge muscles and the fall age of the tree appear as though the observer is looking at the actual scene that the portrait itself.
Thirdly, Rembrandt mastered the psychology of light and used it to create an illusion of space and create focus. He is known as being detailed, animating his paintings, and having a personal connection with them. In his self-portrait, which is in Kenwood’s house, Rembrandt uses light which suffuses his face and leaves the lower body part in shadow. In this painting, he represents himself as a working artist holding his tools of trade. HeRembrandt believed that the face was the roadmap to his experiences and used different brush strokes to enable the observer to read his face, notice his porous nose and the rash in his face which may be alluding to an illness. He uses shadow to suppress his lower body part and light to focus on his face. He also uses different fabric colours to create light and shadow.
In the contemporary world, Sandow Birk draws his inspiration from Caravaggio. He went to school to learn how to interpreted painting but later studied how to paint using Caravaggio’s portraits. Birknarrates a story in his art from Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy by Caravaggio. He changes the painting to be in a colorful background and changes the subjects to be a wounded man bleeding to death with his girlfriend by his side. He uses the deep dark backgrounds in some of his paintings, dressing his subjects in contemporary attires and using common people. Caravaggio’s use of the dark background, which is carried on in movies as the apocalypse where the candle flickers in the dark and the start of the taxi driver movie is relatable. The drama and emotions depicted from the dark background, the use of familiar people, and dressing them in contemporary clothes are all relatable to Birk.
Caravaggio is instrumental in the Baroque period, which was known for its appeal on drama and realism. Most of their scenes were like theoretical snapshots. Baroque was a new distinctive style in the early 1600s with drama and sophistication, whereas the Italian Renaissance artist focused on precision and creating an orderly effect. Caravaggio was one of the main criticized artist at the time for deviating from the norm. He was deemed as an antichrist of painting for his use of tenebrism. His refusal to emulate the works of his predecessors, such as Raphael on religious portraits, was considered as a betrayal of arts. He created naturalism in religious pictures rather than conveying them as divine subjects.