Caravaggio Day

     Yesterday we learned a great deal about the famous artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio who lived from 1571-1610.  He was born in Milan but painted all over Italy including Rome and Naples.  He was extremely famous during his time and had a group of followers and admirers of his work.  He painted many still life paintings that expressed the beauty and dignity of things observed in daily life.  He had an attraction for classic art and painted what was going on in ordinary life on the streets.  Caravaggio eventually moved on to painting sacred subjects which caught the attention of important religious figures.

     I covered the painting "The Martyrdom of St. Matthew" done in the years 1599-1600.  This is a captivating scene of St. Matthew just moments before being killed by a soldier sent from the King of Ethiopia.  The story goes that the King was upset by St. Matthew telling him that he cannot marry his own niece who was a nun.  The King sent out a soldier to kill St. Matthew and it happened while the saint was celebrating mass at the altar.  You can see that Matthew appears to be holding off the soldier by raising his hand up to protect himself, but actually, he is grabbing a palm branch extended by an angel, allowing himself to be martyred.  This is interesting because in a lecture here in Rome we learned that palm branches are used to symbolize life because the branches never die.  Like palm trees, we will never die if we believe in Christ and ascend into heaven for eternal life.

     This particular painting is now in the Contarelli Chapel of San Luigi dei Francesi and hangs opposite of another Caravaggio painting, "The Calling of St. Matthew".  The painting is impressively large in person.  You can clearly see how Caravaggio put the spotlight on St. Matthew and the soldier while the witnesses in the background are much darker and display looks of varying emotion and horror on their faces.  Caravaggio purposely did this to further dramatize the scene of St. Matthew being martyred.  I truly enjoyed being able to view this amazing painting in person.  It gave me a better sense of what Caravaggio wanted to display because I was able to study the emotion on the figures faces, the ferocity of the soldier killing St. Matthew, and St. Matthew's willingness to give up his life for Jesus in that very moment.  It was a moving painting both artistically and religiously.

"The Martyrdom of St. Matthew" in the Contarelli Chapel

The nave of San Luigi dei Francesi