The Diary Game 27/09/2021 - Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The Mysteries Hidden in His Masterpieces I.

alein (70)memberin Italy • 3 years ago

Who exactly is Caravaggio? The revolting painter of ugliness, lowering the great subjects into the mud of sordid environments, depicting in the sacred face of the Virgin a prostitute, the "evil boy", the scandalous, who always walked armed with the sword, assassin, fugitive, notorious homosexual or genius artist from the damned gallery a man who carries with him an inexplicable curse, a tragic destiny finally covered by mystery? The inventor of the chiaroscuro and the first to abuse this process, becoming his own mannerist, an individual with a taste of gloomy realism, as if out of the darkness of the cave, an adventurer waving his stained cloak between two stylistically ambiguous centuries?

A genius performer, eminently mannerist, to whom a late posterity attributed a base difficult to imagine? All this is plausible in the case of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, called Caravaggio, the man who most accurately expresses in his art the violent temperament and fear of the fugitive who hides in dark corners so as not to be discovered. A subconscious, terrible fear seems to flow from most of his paintings, even from those in which he apparently deals with a quiet subject.

If one can speak of realism and naturalism in painting, Caravaggio is the most appropriate exponent, long before these aesthetic notions were launched. He has at the same time a refined cruelty, he destroys the canons. No affiliation resists in the case of this artist from northern Italy, difficult to enroll in one school or another, but quickly exerting an overwhelming influence, being assimilated as a landmark in the Baroque, seventeenth century.

It is true, however, that his restoration of rights would take place late, only at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the importance of his work began to be recognized and it was observed how much his experience was used, especially that much discussed technique of chiaroscuro, combined with a preference for gloomy planes, for more or less mysterious interiors in which many of his characters are placed. The lack of traditional decor always gives a wave of mystery.

These faces seem to be born in the dark, so that a raw light falls suddenly, unexpectedly on them, as if sent by a spotlight on the theater stage. Hence the increased drama of his compositions, a mystical atmosphere no doubt, but treated with a kind of "theatrical" radicalism never seen before. Beyond the technique itself and the exceptional study of dynamics, the movement and it is often surprising, it is assumed a tormented soul, constantly lurking in unknown dangers, ready to hide and flee.

There is nothing static in Caravaggio's paintings and this movement "electrocutes", along with the strong contrasts, which do not exclude the nuances. His paintings are of a radical novelty at the time and it cannot be said that this novelty went unnoticed, even if it was often sunk by external circumstances, by barriers that came from dogma or were reflections of its scandalous existence. Everything can be suspected beyond a picture, but everything remains to be discovered.

Michelangelo Merisi was probably born on September 29, 1571, in Milan, where his father, Fermo Merisi, a master mason and architect, steward of the Marquis de Caravaggio, worked. The family was originally from Caravaggio, a small town in Lombardy, between Milan and Bergamo, where he returned in 1576 due to the plague epidemic. His father died in 1577. Returning to Milan, at the age of 13 Michelangelo entered as a disciple the painter Simone Peterzano, in whose studio he studied for four years.

In 1589 he returned to Caravaggio, where he remained until 1592, when his mother died, when the family's fortune was divided. He then goes to Rome where he will meet, after a few years, fame, will be sought by illustrious figures of the time, will be commissioned the most important works but will also have the sad reputation of a violent man, quarreled with the law and the authorities, with a chaotic, obscure life. At least five biographical writings from the period are testimonies of the life of a cursed artist but also of the reputation he had acquired around 1600. The first years lived in Rome are marked by a severe poverty and quite unclear. He is apparently hosted by a friend of the Pucci family and works in the workshop of Giuseppe Cesari, known as the Knight of Arpino.

From this period date the paintings Young Man with a Fruit Basket (1593–1594), found at the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Bacchus (1593), discovered in a warehouse of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, but also Boy bitten by a lizard (1593 or later), which obviously announces the drama of Caravaggio's later paintings. The expression of pain, the scream of the boy with the bare shoulder, the "violent" movement, the precision of the detail with which still life is painted, the play of shadows and lights on his face foreshadow the defining features of his style.

Before them could be Bacchino malato (Little Bacchus ill, probably 1591–1593), certainly a first self-portrait. It seems that the young Michelangelo had contracted malaria and had been admitted to a hospital. It is Caravaggio's oldest known painting, on display at the Borghese Gallery. The same bare shoulder, an athletic torso and a emaciated figure, painted in shades of cadaveric ocher, a slight pathos of movement that still seems frozen, a bitter smile and the indispensable dark brown background show that the artist's style was already set in the early years.