5 ms·

Oh the article misses one of the best bits about his lifestyle. The man run what essentially was a beautiful scam on churches. He was comissioned to paint sain

Oh the article misses one of the best bits about his lifestyle. The man run what essentially was a beautiful scam on churches. He was comissioned to paint saint and virgins. He would use local prostitutes as models (it is mentioned in the article he was condemed for the murder of a pimp). So when the paintings were presented to the church, the locals (and sometimes even the priests) would recognise the models and there would be some uproar of using the likeness of a streetwalker to paint the virgin mary. So the painting would get removed and most of the time a private owner (sometimes higher ups in the church) would buy them for their personal collection. Too scandalous for the public, but perfect for my own palace. There was a very famous incident of this where he painted Mary's death. Usually this is a very holy moment in Christianity and it's painted as such. Caravaggio did not. He painted it in a dirty tent, in a very human way with her passing away. This was Strike One. Secondly he modeled the death after a famous body that was retrived from the river in Rome, a girl had drowned and tons of people had seen her lifeless body be pulled out of the water, and they could now see that same girl being virgin mary. Strike Two. And the last strike was that the woman was not any girl, but one of the most famous prostitutes of the city and one seen very regularly with Caravaggio. Painting your ex gf prostitute who died unceremonoiously drowned as the holyest figure outside of christ was a big issue at the time. The painting however is still gorgeous and would urge anyone travelling to Paris (in the Louvre) to go see it. Not as "another virgin" painting, which you will find infinite Madonna paintings in Europe. But as one of the first paintings not sanctifying her death and as a sad goodbye from Caravaggio to someone important to him

nerdponx 3y ago
Wikipedia tells me that this is also the last major depiction of her death as death, rather than "assumption", which I find kind of interesting.
- michaelsbradley 3y ago
  Dormition versus Assumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormition_of_the_Mother_of_God#Dormition_versus_Assumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormition_of_the_Mother_of_God...
plondon514 3y ago
According to Wikipedia the painting is part of the Louvres permanent collection (Paris)
- Arkhaine_kupo 3y ago
  it is, fixed. I heard about it while travelling on northern Italy, thought it was still in Italy. Haven't seen it in person, but something to look forward on my next trip to Paris
pluc 3y ago
Where in Rome can one find this painting?
- Arkhaine_kupo 3y ago
  Its in Paris, the guy above corrected me. So if you are ever in the Louvre go and give it a look
hypertexthero 3y ago
Here it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_the_Virgin_(Caravaggio) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_the_Virgin_(Caravaggi...
bigfatfrock 3y ago
Amazing color to add to this great story, thank you. Reading your relation, I realized that this intermixing of "questionable" (at the time) art ended up in religious settings including bible printings back then, resulting in even worse results. My first recollection is of the scandalous chapter opening characters used in some of the earliest KJV printings that results in bankruptcy/ruination of the press owner/printer due to royal/religious offense and subsequent punishment!
undebuggable 3y ago
Burial of St. Lucy in Syracuse is interesting as the painting is displayed at the original place where it was commissioned, on the way of his hectic getaway. Ghastly, the context of the painting feels to be similar to the one you described.
eszed 3y ago
Caravaggio was an epic troll. His Crucifixion of Saint Peter has a pair of beautifully lit buttocks in the left foreground, which (it is thought) are not accidentally oriented towards the Carracci painting over the altar (Caravaggio's commission being for the less prestigious and remunerative side aisle). Whilst I do agree there was an element (a sizeable element: Caravaggio was an asshole) of "fuck you" in his choice of models, there's also a coherent philosophy or theology (and maybe even politics) at work. Consistently in his religious paintings he shows holiness breaking into the ordinary world, through ordinary and even reviled people. You see it in The Calling of Saint Matthew, where Matthew greets Jesus (who bears the merest hint of a missable halo) with a baffled expression and a "who me?" gesture. You see it in (the first version of) Saint Matthew and the Angel where the saint holds the book and the pen like an illiterate, and seems astonished at what the angel is guiding him to write. You see it in the Madonna of Loretto, where Mary and the Christ child are adored by a pair of instantly-recognizable pilgrims. (Pilgrims at the time, in Rome, were looked down upon and treated horribly, so depicting them in that scene was an implicit comment on their treatment.) This painting was also a magnificently petty troll, in that the pilgrims' bare, and very dirty, feet were directly visible above the officiant's head - it was originally an altar-piece - as he celebrated mass. It got moved to a side chapel soon after its unveiling. You see it in the Penitent Magdalen, which dispenses with supernatural trappings, and places the emphasis on Mary's interior state. (Some have noted the broken necklace as a possible reference to, and comment on, the violence that prostitutes often faced.) Coincidently (or not), the model for that painting, Anna Bianchini, was also the model (or the body, as it were) for the Death of the Virgin that you mention. Your gloss is excellent (and Caravaggio was certainly being provocative, and indeed perhaps validictory) but I think you miss one thing: the drapery. The top third of the canvas is taken up by a gorgeously-painted red cloth, the same colour as Mary's dress, which is an odd inclusion into this otherwise very realistic scene. It spreads across above the body, and then at the left is caught upwards, out of the frame, as though pulled by an invisible hand, or pushed by Mary's escaping soul. No one in the picture seems to notice, but it is in my opinion a vision of the Holy, as Caravaggio saw it, almost invisibly in operation just above, behind, and around the natural world.

nerdponx 3y ago

Wikipedia tells me that this is also the last major depiction of her death as death, rather than "assumption", which I find kind of interesting.

michaelsbradley 3y ago
Dormition versus Assumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormition_of_the_Mother_of_God#Dormition_versus_Assumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormition_of_the_Mother_of_God...

plondon514 3y ago

According to Wikipedia the painting is part of the Louvres permanent collection (Paris)

Arkhaine_kupo 3y ago
it is, fixed. I heard about it while travelling on northern Italy, thought it was still in Italy. Haven't seen it in person, but something to look forward on my next trip to Paris

pluc 3y ago

Where in Rome can one find this painting?

Arkhaine_kupo 3y ago
Its in Paris, the guy above corrected me. So if you are ever in the Louvre go and give it a look

hypertexthero 3y ago

Here it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_the_Virgin_(Caravaggio) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_the_Virgin_(Caravaggi...

bigfatfrock 3y ago

Amazing color to add to this great story, thank you. Reading your relation, I realized that this intermixing of "questionable" (at the time) art ended up in religious settings including bible printings back then, resulting in even worse results. My first recollection is of the scandalous chapter opening characters used in some of the earliest KJV printings that results in bankruptcy/ruination of the press owner/printer due to royal/religious offense and subsequent punishment!

undebuggable 3y ago

Burial of St. Lucy in Syracuse is interesting as the painting is displayed at the original place where it was commissioned, on the way of his hectic getaway. Ghastly, the context of the painting feels to be similar to the one you described.

eszed 3y ago

Caravaggio was an epic troll. His Crucifixion of Saint Peter has a pair of beautifully lit buttocks in the left foreground, which (it is thought) are not accidentally oriented towards the Carracci painting over the altar (Caravaggio's commission being for the less prestigious and remunerative side aisle). Whilst I do agree there was an element (a sizeable element: Caravaggio was an asshole) of "fuck you" in his choice of models, there's also a coherent philosophy or theology (and maybe even politics) at work. Consistently in his religious paintings he shows holiness breaking into the ordinary world, through ordinary and even reviled people. You see it in The Calling of Saint Matthew, where Matthew greets Jesus (who bears the merest hint of a missable halo) with a baffled expression and a "who me?" gesture. You see it in (the first version of) Saint Matthew and the Angel where the saint holds the book and the pen like an illiterate, and seems astonished at what the angel is guiding him to write. You see it in the Madonna of Loretto, where Mary and the Christ child are adored by a pair of instantly-recognizable pilgrims. (Pilgrims at the time, in Rome, were looked down upon and treated horribly, so depicting them in that scene was an implicit comment on their treatment.) This painting was also a magnificently petty troll, in that the pilgrims' bare, and very dirty, feet were directly visible above the officiant's head - it was originally an altar-piece - as he celebrated mass. It got moved to a side chapel soon after its unveiling. You see it in the Penitent Magdalen, which dispenses with supernatural trappings, and places the emphasis on Mary's interior state. (Some have noted the broken necklace as a possible reference to, and comment on, the violence that prostitutes often faced.) Coincidently (or not), the model for that painting, Anna Bianchini, was also the model (or the body, as it were) for the Death of the Virgin that you mention. Your gloss is excellent (and Caravaggio was certainly being provocative, and indeed perhaps validictory) but I think you miss one thing: the drapery. The top third of the canvas is taken up by a gorgeously-painted red cloth, the same colour as Mary's dress, which is an odd inclusion into this otherwise very realistic scene. It spreads across above the body, and then at the left is caught upwards, out of the frame, as though pulled by an invisible hand, or pushed by Mary's escaping soul. No one in the picture seems to notice, but it is in my opinion a vision of the Holy, as Caravaggio saw it, almost invisibly in operation just above, behind, and around the natural world.