Tweed Museum of Art : Power of Art : Caravaggio

Caravaggio arrived on the Italian art scene at a time when there was a growing interest in extremes of expression and human emotion in all the arts. So astute was his attention to the expressions and gazes of his figures, and so facile was his modeling and drawing, that Caravaggio advanced an entirely new set of standards for painting in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods.

As Simon Schama states, “The whole point of art, according to its Renaissance theorists, was the idealization of nature. Caravaggio had just announced that his business would be the naturalization of the ideal.”

The hallmarks of Caravaggio’s art are its dramatic lighting, its “in your face” presentation of figures, and the intense expressions and gazes of his characters, which command our complete attention. When Caravaggio eliminated the artificial stage-like space of much Renaissance painting, he brought the action and characters closer to the viewer’s real space. Suddenly, the viewer was forced to deal with them in a new way. It is as if they were really there, looking at us and waiting for us to respond to them.

Anonymous Roman follower of Caravaggio, in the manner of Bartolemeo Manfredi, The Scourging of St. Blaise
oil on canvas, 64 3/4" x 75 3/4"
Gift of Alice Tweed Tuohy

Caravaggio and his chiaroscuro (light from dark) methods were extremely influential, as seen in the Tweed’s Scourging of Saint Blaise, now attributed to the studio of Bartolomeo Manfredi, a direct follower of Caravaggio. The painting has all the right visual characteristics: high emotionalism, extremes of light and dark, and a claustrophobic staging of figures close to the picture plane. The mystery figures in St. Blaise, including a cloaked female left of center and a smiling youth at far right, exhibit a strange emotional distance from the gruesome scene, another Caravaggiesque mannerism.

Infamous, controversial, and extremely influential while he lived, Caravaggio was almost entirely forgotten in the centuries after his death. It was only in the 20th century that his importance to the development of Western art was fully explored, and attention paid to his followers, like the painter of Tweed’s St. Blaise.

“What begins in the work of Caravaggio is, quite simply, modern painting,” according to Andre Berne-Joffroy. Of course, historians always disagree about the origins of modern art, but what Caravaggio did was to mix the contemporary and the historical in such a way as to confuse us a bit. And like any good magician, Caravaggio knew that a slightly off-balance and confused audience is the easiest to play to.

Carravaggio

(Italian, 1571–1610)

Bernini

(Italian, 1598–1680)

Rembrandt

(Dutch, 1606–1669)

Jacques-Louis David

(French, 1748–1825)

Joseph Mallord William Turner

(British, 1775–1851)*

Van Gogh

(Dutch, 1853–1890)

Picasso

(Spanish, 1881–1973)

Rothko

(American, 1903–1970)


Carravaggio (Italian, 1571–1610) Bernini (Italian, 1598–1680) Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606–1669) Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825) Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775–1851)* Van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890) Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973) Rothko (American, 1903–1970) This activity is made possible in part by a grant from WNET/PBS 13, New York, through PBS 8/WDSE, Duluth. Caravaggio arrived on the Italian art scene at a time when there was a growing interest in extremes of expression and human emotion in all the arts. So astute was his attention to the expressions and gazes of his figures, and so facile was his modeling and drawing, that Caravaggio advanced an entirely new set of standards for painting in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. As Simon Schama states, “The whole point of art, according to its Renaissance theorists, was the idealization of nature. Caravaggio had just announced that his business would be the naturalization of the ideal.” The hallmarks of Caravaggio’s art are its dramatic lighting, its “in your face” presentation of figures, and the intense expressions and gazes of his characters, which command our complete attention. When Caravaggio eliminated the artificial stage-like space of much Renaissance painting, he brought the action and characters closer to the viewer’s real space. Suddenly, the viewer was forced to deal with them in a new way. It is as if they were really there, looking at us and waiting for us to respond to them. Anonymous Roman follower of Caravaggio, in the manner of Bartolemeo Manfredi, The Scourging of St. Blaise oil on canvas, 64 3/4" x 75 3/4" Gift of Alice Tweed Tuohy Caravaggio and his chiaroscuro (light from dark) methods were extremely influential, as seen in the Tweed’s Scourging of Saint Blaise, now attributed to the studio of Bartolomeo Manfredi, a direct follower of Caravaggio. The painting has all the right visual characteristics: high emotionalism, extremes of light and dark, and a claustrophobic staging of figures close to the picture plane. The mystery figures in St. Blaise, including a cloaked female left of center and a smiling youth at far right, exhibit a strange emotional distance from the gruesome scene, another Caravaggiesque mannerism. Infamous, controversial, and extremely influential while he lived, Caravaggio was almost entirely forgotten in the centuries after his death. It was only in the 20th century that his importance to the development of Western art was fully explored, and attention paid to his followers, like the painter of Tweed’s St. Blaise. “What begins in the work of Caravaggio is, quite simply, modern painting,” according to Andre Berne-Joffroy. Of course, historians always disagree about the origins of modern art, but what Caravaggio did was to mix the contemporary and the historical in such a way as to confuse us a bit. And like any good magician, Caravaggio knew that a slightly off-balance and confused audience is the easiest to play to.