Posted on Jul 18, 2021
Caravaggio Biography | Life, Paintings, Influence on Art | caravaggio-foundation.org
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On July 18, 1610, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Italian painter, died at the age of 38. An excerpt from the article:
"EXILE AND DEATH (1606-1610)
Caravaggio led a tumultuous life. He was notorious for brawling, even in a time and place when such behavior was commonplace, and the transcripts of his police records and trial proceedings fill several pages. On 29 May 1606, he killed, possibly unintentionally, a young man named Ranuccio Tomassoni. Previously his high-placed patrons had protected him from the consequences of his escapades, but this time they could do nothing. Caravaggio, outlawed, fled to Naples. There, outside the jurisdiction of the Roman authorities and protected by the Colonna family, the most famous painter in Rome became the most famous in Naples. His connections with the Colonnas led to a stream of important church commissions, including the Madonna of the Rosary, and The Seven Works of Mercy.
Despite his success in Naples, after only a few months in the city Caravaggio left for Malta, the headquarters of the Knights of Malta, presumably hoping that the patronage of Alof de Wignacourt, Grand Master of the Knights, could help him secure a pardon for Tomassoni's death. De Wignacourt proved so impressed at having the famous artist as official painter to the Order that he inducted him as a knight, and the early biographer Bellori records that the artist was well pleased with his success. Major works from his Malta period include a huge Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (the only painting to which he put his signature) and a Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page, as well as portraits of other leading knights. Yet by late August 1608 he was arrested and imprisoned. The circumstances surrounding this abrupt change of fortune have long been a matter of speculation, but recent investigation has revealed it to have been the result of yet another brawl, during which the door of a house was battered down and a knight seriously wounded. By December he had been expelled from the Order "as a foul and rotten member."
Before the expulsion Caravaggio had escaped to Sicily and the company of his old friend Mario Minniti, who was now married and living in Syracuse. Together they set off on what amounted to a triumphal tour from Syracuse to Messina and on to the island capital, Palermo. In each city Caravaggio continued to win prestigious and well-paid commissions. Among other works from this period are a Burial of St. Lucy, a The Raising of Lazarus, and an Adoration of the Shepherds. His style continued to evolve, showing now friezes of figures isolated against vast empty backgrounds. "His great Sicilian altarpieces isolate their shadowy, pitifully poor figures in vast areas of darkness; they suggest the desperate fears and frailty of man, and at the same time convey, with a new yet desolate tenderness, the beauty of humility and of the meek, who shall inherit the earth." Contemporary reports depict a man whose behaviour was becoming increasingly bizarre, sleeping fully armed and in his clothes, ripping up a painting at a slight word of criticism, mocking the local painters.
After only nine months in Sicily Caravaggio returned to Naples. According to his earliest biographer he was being pursued by enemies while in Sicily and felt it safest to place himself under the protection of the Colonnas until he could secure his pardon from the pope (now Paul V) and return to Rome. In Naples he painted The Denial of Saint Peter, a final John the Baptist (Borghese), and, his last picture, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula. His style continued to evolve - Saint Ursula is caught in a moment of highest action and drama, as the arrow fired by the king of the Huns strikes her in the breast, unlike earlier paintings which had all the immobility of the posed models. The brushwork was much freer and more impressionistic. Had Caravaggio lived, something new would have come. The Denial of Saint Peter, c. 1610. Oil on canvas, 94 x 125 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In the chiaroscuro a woman points two fingers at Peter while a soldier points a third. Caravaggio tells the story of Peter denying Christ three times with this symbolism.
In Naples an attempt was made on his life, by persons unknown. At first it was reported in Rome that the "famous artist" Caravaggio was dead, but then it was learned that he was alive, but seriously disfigured in the face. He painted a Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (Madrid), showing his own head on a platter, and sent it to de Wignacourt as a plea for forgiveness. Perhaps at this time he painted also a David with the Head of Goliath, showing the young David with a strangely sorrowful expression gazing on the wounded head of the giant, which is again Caravaggio's. This painting he may have sent to the unscrupulous art-loving cardinal-nephew Scipione Borghese, who had the power to grant or withhold pardons.
In the summer of 1610 he took a boat northwards to receive the pardon, which seemed imminent thanks to his powerful Roman friends. With him were three last paintings, gifts for Cardinal Scipione. What happened next is the subject of much confusion and conjecture. The bare facts are that on 28 July an anonymous avviso (private newsletter) from Rome to the ducal court of Urbino reported that Caravaggio was dead. Three days later another avviso said that he had died of fever. These were the earliest, brief accounts of his death, which later underwent much elaboration. No body was found. A poet friend of the artist later gave 18 July as the date of death, and a recent researcher claims to have discovered a death notice showing that the artist died on that day of a fever in Porto Ercole, near Grosseto in Tuscany. (From wikipedia)"
"EXILE AND DEATH (1606-1610)
Caravaggio led a tumultuous life. He was notorious for brawling, even in a time and place when such behavior was commonplace, and the transcripts of his police records and trial proceedings fill several pages. On 29 May 1606, he killed, possibly unintentionally, a young man named Ranuccio Tomassoni. Previously his high-placed patrons had protected him from the consequences of his escapades, but this time they could do nothing. Caravaggio, outlawed, fled to Naples. There, outside the jurisdiction of the Roman authorities and protected by the Colonna family, the most famous painter in Rome became the most famous in Naples. His connections with the Colonnas led to a stream of important church commissions, including the Madonna of the Rosary, and The Seven Works of Mercy.
Despite his success in Naples, after only a few months in the city Caravaggio left for Malta, the headquarters of the Knights of Malta, presumably hoping that the patronage of Alof de Wignacourt, Grand Master of the Knights, could help him secure a pardon for Tomassoni's death. De Wignacourt proved so impressed at having the famous artist as official painter to the Order that he inducted him as a knight, and the early biographer Bellori records that the artist was well pleased with his success. Major works from his Malta period include a huge Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (the only painting to which he put his signature) and a Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page, as well as portraits of other leading knights. Yet by late August 1608 he was arrested and imprisoned. The circumstances surrounding this abrupt change of fortune have long been a matter of speculation, but recent investigation has revealed it to have been the result of yet another brawl, during which the door of a house was battered down and a knight seriously wounded. By December he had been expelled from the Order "as a foul and rotten member."
Before the expulsion Caravaggio had escaped to Sicily and the company of his old friend Mario Minniti, who was now married and living in Syracuse. Together they set off on what amounted to a triumphal tour from Syracuse to Messina and on to the island capital, Palermo. In each city Caravaggio continued to win prestigious and well-paid commissions. Among other works from this period are a Burial of St. Lucy, a The Raising of Lazarus, and an Adoration of the Shepherds. His style continued to evolve, showing now friezes of figures isolated against vast empty backgrounds. "His great Sicilian altarpieces isolate their shadowy, pitifully poor figures in vast areas of darkness; they suggest the desperate fears and frailty of man, and at the same time convey, with a new yet desolate tenderness, the beauty of humility and of the meek, who shall inherit the earth." Contemporary reports depict a man whose behaviour was becoming increasingly bizarre, sleeping fully armed and in his clothes, ripping up a painting at a slight word of criticism, mocking the local painters.
After only nine months in Sicily Caravaggio returned to Naples. According to his earliest biographer he was being pursued by enemies while in Sicily and felt it safest to place himself under the protection of the Colonnas until he could secure his pardon from the pope (now Paul V) and return to Rome. In Naples he painted The Denial of Saint Peter, a final John the Baptist (Borghese), and, his last picture, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula. His style continued to evolve - Saint Ursula is caught in a moment of highest action and drama, as the arrow fired by the king of the Huns strikes her in the breast, unlike earlier paintings which had all the immobility of the posed models. The brushwork was much freer and more impressionistic. Had Caravaggio lived, something new would have come. The Denial of Saint Peter, c. 1610. Oil on canvas, 94 x 125 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In the chiaroscuro a woman points two fingers at Peter while a soldier points a third. Caravaggio tells the story of Peter denying Christ three times with this symbolism.
In Naples an attempt was made on his life, by persons unknown. At first it was reported in Rome that the "famous artist" Caravaggio was dead, but then it was learned that he was alive, but seriously disfigured in the face. He painted a Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (Madrid), showing his own head on a platter, and sent it to de Wignacourt as a plea for forgiveness. Perhaps at this time he painted also a David with the Head of Goliath, showing the young David with a strangely sorrowful expression gazing on the wounded head of the giant, which is again Caravaggio's. This painting he may have sent to the unscrupulous art-loving cardinal-nephew Scipione Borghese, who had the power to grant or withhold pardons.
In the summer of 1610 he took a boat northwards to receive the pardon, which seemed imminent thanks to his powerful Roman friends. With him were three last paintings, gifts for Cardinal Scipione. What happened next is the subject of much confusion and conjecture. The bare facts are that on 28 July an anonymous avviso (private newsletter) from Rome to the ducal court of Urbino reported that Caravaggio was dead. Three days later another avviso said that he had died of fever. These were the earliest, brief accounts of his death, which later underwent much elaboration. No body was found. A poet friend of the artist later gave 18 July as the date of death, and a recent researcher claims to have discovered a death notice showing that the artist died on that day of a fever in Porto Ercole, near Grosseto in Tuscany. (From wikipedia)"
Caravaggio Biography | Life, Paintings, Influence on Art | caravaggio-foundation.org
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SGT (Join to see) thanks for the solid read and share of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Italian painter, died at the age of 38.
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Caravaggio ~ Robert Hughes Full Documentary
Fantastic biography of the great Italian painter.
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that on July 18, 1610, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Italian painter, died at the age of 38. He was arrogant, rebellious and a murderer as well as a famous Italian painter.
Caravaggio ~ Robert Hughes Full Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbCtoTntfEY
Images:
1. 1593-1594 Caravaggio Self-Portrait as Bacchus_Sick Bacchus
2. 1606 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of David with the Head of Goliath
3. 1608 Caravaggio painting The Beheading of St. John the Baptist (in situ)
4. 1593-1994 Caravaggio painting Boy Bitten by a Lizard
{[ https://www.caravaggiogallery.com/biography.aspx]}
Birth Year : 1573
Death Year : 1609
Country : Italy
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, revolutionary naturalist painter, was born in Caravaggio near Milan. Caravaggio was the son of a mason.
He showed his artistic talent early and at the age of 16, after a brief apprenticeship in Milan, he was studying with d'Arpino in Rome. During the period 1592-1598, Caravaggio's work was precise in contour, brightly colored, and sculpturesque in form, like the Mannerists, but with an added moral and social consciousness. By 1600 when Caravaggio had completed his first public commission, the St. Matthew paintings for the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, he established himself as an opponent of both intellectual Mannerism and classicism. Caravaggio chose his models from the common people and set them in ordinary settings, yet managed to lose neither poetry nor deep spiritual feeling. Caravaggio's use of chiaroscuro - the contrast of light and dark to create atmosphere, drama, and emotion - was revolutionary. His light is unreal, comes from outside the painting, and creates relief and dark shadow. The resulting paintings are as exciting in their effect upon the senses as on the intellect.
Caravaggio's art was not popular with ordinary people, who saw in it a lack of reverence. His art was highly appreciated by artists of his time and has become recognized through the centuries for its religious nature as well as for the new techniques that have changed the art of painting. Though he received many commissions for religious paintings during his short life, Caravaggio led a wild and bohemian existence. In 1606, after killing a man in a fight, Caravaggio fled to Naples. Unfortunately, he was soon in trouble again, and was forced to flee to Malta where he died of malaria at the age of 36. His influence, which was first seen in early 17th century Italian art, eventually spread to France, England, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Caravaggio the Early Years
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was the son of Fermo di Bernardino Merisi, the steward and architect to the Marquis of Caravaggio, a town near Milan. When Caravaggio was around the age of 11 his father died leaving the young boy, his two brothers and his sister to be raised by their mother, Lucia Aratori.
Shortly thereafter, around the age of 12, Caravaggio was apprenticed to Milanese Painter, Simone Peterzano. The apprenticeship is said to have lasted 4 years during which time Caravaggio learned to mix paint, select brushes, and construct frames. During this time he also learned the Lombard and Venezian realist style which differed significantly from the idealization of the Florentine painting style of the time.
Sometime between 1588 and 1592 Caravaggio moved to Rome. The early years in Rome were tough for the young artist. He moved into the decaying Campo Marzio neighborhood which was a cosmopolitan arty area with inns, temporary shelters, eateries, and picture shops. Caravaggio was nearly broke at the time and had a violent temperament making it hard to keep a steady job. He moved from studio to studio as an assistant painting backgrounds and still lives in the paintings of lesser artists.
In 1595 Caravaggio broke out on his own, and working independently began selling his paintings through dealer, Maestro Valentino. Valentino brought some of Caravaggio’s work to Cardinal Francesco del Monte, an influential member of the Papal Court. He soon enjoyed the patronage of del Monte and was invited to live, dine, and work in the house of the cardinal.
Caravaggio the Middle Years
In 1597, Caravaggio was commissioned to paint 3 large paintings for the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. The Cardinal Del Monte was most likely instrumental in securing this important project for Caravaggio. This commission was a breakthrough for the young artist and helped to establish Caravaggio as a renowned painter. The large commission was an ambitious one, he was to paint 3 large scenes of the life of Saint Matthew: St. Matthew and the Angel, The Calling of St. Matthew, and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. Caravaggio depicted the saint in a dramatic realism unlike the pictorial style traditionally seen. These realistic paintings caused a stir in Rome and also marked a change in the artist’s focus. From here on out Caravaggio painted traditional religious themes.
By 1602, the decorations for the Contarelli Chapel were complete and Caravaggio’s renown surpassed his colleagues as his fame spread throughout Europe. The demand for paintings from Caravaggio grew and he completed works such as The Deposition of Christ, Death of the Virgin, The Crucifixion of St. Peter, and The Conversion of St. Paul.
From 1600 on Caravaggio was known by the Rome police due to his turbulent life. He was accused of attacking a colleague with a stick and raising his sword and wounding a soldier. In 1603, he was imprisoned when a libel action was brought against him by fellow painter, Giovanni Baglione. In 1604, he was accused of throwing a plate of artichokes in the face of a waiter, and then later that year he was arrested for harassing and throwing stones at a Roman Guard. In 1605, he was arrested for carrying arms without permission. Later that year he fled Rome after stabbing a man in a fight over a woman. Within a year he had returned to Rome and was once again forced to flee when on May 29, 1606 he got into a fight over a tennis match and killed Ranuccio Tomassoni.
Caravaggio the Late Years
After fleeing Rome Caravaggio moved from place to place hiding and eventually settled in Naples for a time. While in Naples he executed such works as The Flagellation of Christ, Madonna of the Rosary which was painted for Flemish painter Louis Finson, and The Seven Works of Mercy created for the Chapel of Monte della Misericordia.
In 1608, Caravaggio moved to Malta and was welcomed as a renowned artist. He was knighted into the Order of Malta after donating the impressive altarpiece, The Beheading of St John the Baptist for the cathedral in Valletta. Soon after his knighting he was expelled from the Order and was imprisoned. Caravaggio managed to escape the prison and fled to Sicily.
Caravaggio’s artistic fame followed him and during short stays moving city to city he worked all the while completing a number of altarpieces. In Syracuse he created The Burial of St. Lucy, for the Church of Santa Lucia. In Messina he painted The Resurrection of Lazarus as well as The Adoration of the Shepherds. In Palermo he painted Adoration with St. Francis and St. Lawrence. Caravaggio was waiting for a pardon from the Pope which would mean he could return safely to Rome.
In 1609 Caravaggio again returned to Naples. He was once again in a fight but this time he was severely wounded. After several months of convalescence he sailed from Naples to Rome in July of 1610. His small boat carrying all of his possessions made a stop at Palo. Caravaggio was mistakenly captured when he exited the boat and was imprisoned for two days before being released. Upon release he discovered that his boat, with all of his things was gone. Caravaggio set out to overtake the boat at Port’Ercole. He died a few days later of pneumonia on July 18, 1610. Three days following his death a document granting his pardon arrived from Rome.'
Duricko, Ph.D] GySgt Thomas Vick SGT Denny Espinosa LTC (Join to see)Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SPC Michael Terrell SFC Chuck Martinez CSM Charles HaydenMSgt James Clark-Rosa SMSgt Tom Burns 1SG Dan Capri MGySgt (Join to see) SFC Ralph E Kelley SSgt Marian Mitchell SSgt Kelly D.
Caravaggio ~ Robert Hughes Full Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbCtoTntfEY
Images:
1. 1593-1594 Caravaggio Self-Portrait as Bacchus_Sick Bacchus
2. 1606 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of David with the Head of Goliath
3. 1608 Caravaggio painting The Beheading of St. John the Baptist (in situ)
4. 1593-1994 Caravaggio painting Boy Bitten by a Lizard
{[ https://www.caravaggiogallery.com/biography.aspx]}
Birth Year : 1573
Death Year : 1609
Country : Italy
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, revolutionary naturalist painter, was born in Caravaggio near Milan. Caravaggio was the son of a mason.
He showed his artistic talent early and at the age of 16, after a brief apprenticeship in Milan, he was studying with d'Arpino in Rome. During the period 1592-1598, Caravaggio's work was precise in contour, brightly colored, and sculpturesque in form, like the Mannerists, but with an added moral and social consciousness. By 1600 when Caravaggio had completed his first public commission, the St. Matthew paintings for the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, he established himself as an opponent of both intellectual Mannerism and classicism. Caravaggio chose his models from the common people and set them in ordinary settings, yet managed to lose neither poetry nor deep spiritual feeling. Caravaggio's use of chiaroscuro - the contrast of light and dark to create atmosphere, drama, and emotion - was revolutionary. His light is unreal, comes from outside the painting, and creates relief and dark shadow. The resulting paintings are as exciting in their effect upon the senses as on the intellect.
Caravaggio's art was not popular with ordinary people, who saw in it a lack of reverence. His art was highly appreciated by artists of his time and has become recognized through the centuries for its religious nature as well as for the new techniques that have changed the art of painting. Though he received many commissions for religious paintings during his short life, Caravaggio led a wild and bohemian existence. In 1606, after killing a man in a fight, Caravaggio fled to Naples. Unfortunately, he was soon in trouble again, and was forced to flee to Malta where he died of malaria at the age of 36. His influence, which was first seen in early 17th century Italian art, eventually spread to France, England, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Caravaggio the Early Years
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was the son of Fermo di Bernardino Merisi, the steward and architect to the Marquis of Caravaggio, a town near Milan. When Caravaggio was around the age of 11 his father died leaving the young boy, his two brothers and his sister to be raised by their mother, Lucia Aratori.
Shortly thereafter, around the age of 12, Caravaggio was apprenticed to Milanese Painter, Simone Peterzano. The apprenticeship is said to have lasted 4 years during which time Caravaggio learned to mix paint, select brushes, and construct frames. During this time he also learned the Lombard and Venezian realist style which differed significantly from the idealization of the Florentine painting style of the time.
Sometime between 1588 and 1592 Caravaggio moved to Rome. The early years in Rome were tough for the young artist. He moved into the decaying Campo Marzio neighborhood which was a cosmopolitan arty area with inns, temporary shelters, eateries, and picture shops. Caravaggio was nearly broke at the time and had a violent temperament making it hard to keep a steady job. He moved from studio to studio as an assistant painting backgrounds and still lives in the paintings of lesser artists.
In 1595 Caravaggio broke out on his own, and working independently began selling his paintings through dealer, Maestro Valentino. Valentino brought some of Caravaggio’s work to Cardinal Francesco del Monte, an influential member of the Papal Court. He soon enjoyed the patronage of del Monte and was invited to live, dine, and work in the house of the cardinal.
Caravaggio the Middle Years
In 1597, Caravaggio was commissioned to paint 3 large paintings for the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. The Cardinal Del Monte was most likely instrumental in securing this important project for Caravaggio. This commission was a breakthrough for the young artist and helped to establish Caravaggio as a renowned painter. The large commission was an ambitious one, he was to paint 3 large scenes of the life of Saint Matthew: St. Matthew and the Angel, The Calling of St. Matthew, and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. Caravaggio depicted the saint in a dramatic realism unlike the pictorial style traditionally seen. These realistic paintings caused a stir in Rome and also marked a change in the artist’s focus. From here on out Caravaggio painted traditional religious themes.
By 1602, the decorations for the Contarelli Chapel were complete and Caravaggio’s renown surpassed his colleagues as his fame spread throughout Europe. The demand for paintings from Caravaggio grew and he completed works such as The Deposition of Christ, Death of the Virgin, The Crucifixion of St. Peter, and The Conversion of St. Paul.
From 1600 on Caravaggio was known by the Rome police due to his turbulent life. He was accused of attacking a colleague with a stick and raising his sword and wounding a soldier. In 1603, he was imprisoned when a libel action was brought against him by fellow painter, Giovanni Baglione. In 1604, he was accused of throwing a plate of artichokes in the face of a waiter, and then later that year he was arrested for harassing and throwing stones at a Roman Guard. In 1605, he was arrested for carrying arms without permission. Later that year he fled Rome after stabbing a man in a fight over a woman. Within a year he had returned to Rome and was once again forced to flee when on May 29, 1606 he got into a fight over a tennis match and killed Ranuccio Tomassoni.
Caravaggio the Late Years
After fleeing Rome Caravaggio moved from place to place hiding and eventually settled in Naples for a time. While in Naples he executed such works as The Flagellation of Christ, Madonna of the Rosary which was painted for Flemish painter Louis Finson, and The Seven Works of Mercy created for the Chapel of Monte della Misericordia.
In 1608, Caravaggio moved to Malta and was welcomed as a renowned artist. He was knighted into the Order of Malta after donating the impressive altarpiece, The Beheading of St John the Baptist for the cathedral in Valletta. Soon after his knighting he was expelled from the Order and was imprisoned. Caravaggio managed to escape the prison and fled to Sicily.
Caravaggio’s artistic fame followed him and during short stays moving city to city he worked all the while completing a number of altarpieces. In Syracuse he created The Burial of St. Lucy, for the Church of Santa Lucia. In Messina he painted The Resurrection of Lazarus as well as The Adoration of the Shepherds. In Palermo he painted Adoration with St. Francis and St. Lawrence. Caravaggio was waiting for a pardon from the Pope which would mean he could return safely to Rome.
In 1609 Caravaggio again returned to Naples. He was once again in a fight but this time he was severely wounded. After several months of convalescence he sailed from Naples to Rome in July of 1610. His small boat carrying all of his possessions made a stop at Palo. Caravaggio was mistakenly captured when he exited the boat and was imprisoned for two days before being released. Upon release he discovered that his boat, with all of his things was gone. Caravaggio set out to overtake the boat at Port’Ercole. He died a few days later of pneumonia on July 18, 1610. Three days following his death a document granting his pardon arrived from Rome.'
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LTC Stephen F.
The Power of Art - Caravaggio (complete episode)
More series: Considered by many, as the artist who gave birth to the Baroque style of painting. Caravaggio's approach to
The Power of Art - Caravaggio (complete episode)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiH_ootDtTs
Images
1. 1599-1600 Caravaggio painting The Calling of St. Matthew
2. 1595 Caravaggio painting The Musicians (Concert of Youths).
3. 1607 Caravaggio painting The Seven Works of Mercy
4. 1607-1610 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of Salome Receives the Head of Saint John the Baptist
Background from {[https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio]}
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio [1571 - 1610]
Early successes
Arrogant, rebellious and a murderer, Caravaggio's short and tempestuous life matched the drama of his works. Characterised by their dramatic, almost theatrical lighting, Caravaggio's paintings were controversial, popular, and hugely influential on succeeding generations of painters all over Europe.
Born Michelangelo Merisi, Caravaggio is the name of the artist's home town in Lombardy in northern Italy. In 1592 at the age of 21 he moved to Rome, Italy's artistic centre and an irresistible magnet for young artists keen to study its classical buildings and famous works of art. The first few years were a struggle. He specialised in still lifes of fruits and flowers, and later, half length figures (as in 'The Boy bitten by a Lizard') which he sold on the street.
In 1595, his luck changed. An eminent Cardinal, Francesco del Monte, recognised the young painter's talent and took Caravaggio into his household. Through the cardinal's circle of acquaintance, Caravaggio received his first public commissions which were so compelling and so innovative that he became a celebrity almost overnight.
Rome
Caravaggio was a fast worker - but liked to play as hard as he worked. According to one of his biographers: ''after a fortnight's work he will swagger about for a month or two with his sword at his side and with a servant following him, from one ball-court to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or argument, with the result that it is most awkward to get along with him''. (The sword was illegal - as with guns today, one had to have licence to carry arms.) Caravaggio was arrested repeatedly for, among other things, slashing the cloak of an adversary, throwing a plate of artichokes at a waiter, scarring a guard, and abusing the police.
Caravaggio's technique was as spontaneous as his temper. He painted straight onto the canvas with minimal preparation. Sometimes he abandoned a disappointing composition and painted new work over the top. Much to the horror of his critics, he used ordinary working people with irregular, rough and characterful faces as models for his saints and showed them in recognisably contemporary surroundings. In many paintings, such as the 'Supper at Emmaus', he makes his paintings appear to be an extension of real space, deliberately making the viewers feel as if they are taking part in the scene.
In 1606 Caravaggio's temper went a step too far. An argument with 'a very polite young man' described variously as over a woman, or a tennis match, escalated into a swordfight. Caravaggio stabbed his rival, and though he probably hadn't intended to kill him, the man died of his wound. Caravaggio chose not to face justice, but leave Rome. He had no doubt that he would quickly obtain a pardon.
Malta
Caravaggio went to Naples, and then to the island of Malta, an independent sovereignty and home of the Knights of Malta (a religious military order like the Knights Templars). If Caravaggio could become a Knight of Malta, he would be in a better position to seek a papal pardon for the murder. In return for a painting of the Beheading of St John the Baptist, he was granted membership.
His social standing in Malta was high - his reward included two slaves and a gold chain. All was going to plan, until his temper got him into trouble again. He got into a fight with another knight and found himself in prison. He escaped, but was expelled from the order.
Pardon and death
Caravaggio travelled around Sicily and then returned to Naples where he was involved in yet another bar brawl which left him badly disfigured. In the meantime, however, important friends in Rome had successfully petitioned the Pope for a pardon - Caravaggio could return.
He loaded his belongings onto a ship but, for some unknown reason, was then arrested and had to buy his way out of jail. By the time he was released, the ship and all his possessions had sailed without him. As he made his way along the coast he fell ill, perhaps with malaria, and a few days later, alone and feverish, he died.'
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiH_ootDtTs
Images
1. 1599-1600 Caravaggio painting The Calling of St. Matthew
2. 1595 Caravaggio painting The Musicians (Concert of Youths).
3. 1607 Caravaggio painting The Seven Works of Mercy
4. 1607-1610 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of Salome Receives the Head of Saint John the Baptist
Background from {[https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio]}
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio [1571 - 1610]
Early successes
Arrogant, rebellious and a murderer, Caravaggio's short and tempestuous life matched the drama of his works. Characterised by their dramatic, almost theatrical lighting, Caravaggio's paintings were controversial, popular, and hugely influential on succeeding generations of painters all over Europe.
Born Michelangelo Merisi, Caravaggio is the name of the artist's home town in Lombardy in northern Italy. In 1592 at the age of 21 he moved to Rome, Italy's artistic centre and an irresistible magnet for young artists keen to study its classical buildings and famous works of art. The first few years were a struggle. He specialised in still lifes of fruits and flowers, and later, half length figures (as in 'The Boy bitten by a Lizard') which he sold on the street.
In 1595, his luck changed. An eminent Cardinal, Francesco del Monte, recognised the young painter's talent and took Caravaggio into his household. Through the cardinal's circle of acquaintance, Caravaggio received his first public commissions which were so compelling and so innovative that he became a celebrity almost overnight.
Rome
Caravaggio was a fast worker - but liked to play as hard as he worked. According to one of his biographers: ''after a fortnight's work he will swagger about for a month or two with his sword at his side and with a servant following him, from one ball-court to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or argument, with the result that it is most awkward to get along with him''. (The sword was illegal - as with guns today, one had to have licence to carry arms.) Caravaggio was arrested repeatedly for, among other things, slashing the cloak of an adversary, throwing a plate of artichokes at a waiter, scarring a guard, and abusing the police.
Caravaggio's technique was as spontaneous as his temper. He painted straight onto the canvas with minimal preparation. Sometimes he abandoned a disappointing composition and painted new work over the top. Much to the horror of his critics, he used ordinary working people with irregular, rough and characterful faces as models for his saints and showed them in recognisably contemporary surroundings. In many paintings, such as the 'Supper at Emmaus', he makes his paintings appear to be an extension of real space, deliberately making the viewers feel as if they are taking part in the scene.
In 1606 Caravaggio's temper went a step too far. An argument with 'a very polite young man' described variously as over a woman, or a tennis match, escalated into a swordfight. Caravaggio stabbed his rival, and though he probably hadn't intended to kill him, the man died of his wound. Caravaggio chose not to face justice, but leave Rome. He had no doubt that he would quickly obtain a pardon.
Malta
Caravaggio went to Naples, and then to the island of Malta, an independent sovereignty and home of the Knights of Malta (a religious military order like the Knights Templars). If Caravaggio could become a Knight of Malta, he would be in a better position to seek a papal pardon for the murder. In return for a painting of the Beheading of St John the Baptist, he was granted membership.
His social standing in Malta was high - his reward included two slaves and a gold chain. All was going to plan, until his temper got him into trouble again. He got into a fight with another knight and found himself in prison. He escaped, but was expelled from the order.
Pardon and death
Caravaggio travelled around Sicily and then returned to Naples where he was involved in yet another bar brawl which left him badly disfigured. In the meantime, however, important friends in Rome had successfully petitioned the Pope for a pardon - Caravaggio could return.
He loaded his belongings onto a ship but, for some unknown reason, was then arrested and had to buy his way out of jail. By the time he was released, the ship and all his possessions had sailed without him. As he made his way along the coast he fell ill, perhaps with malaria, and a few days later, alone and feverish, he died.'
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Caravaggios Secrets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSedI1S4LFg
Images:
1. 1614-1621 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of The Supper at Emmaus
2. 1603-1604 Caravaggio painting The Entombment
3. 1605-1607 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of The Flagellation of Christ,
4. 1599-1600 Caravaggio painting The Calling of St. Matthew
Background from {[https://www.theartstory.org/artist/caravaggio/life-and-legacy/]}
Biography of Caravaggio
Childhood
Reliable biographical information on Caravaggio is scarce and what does exist has been pieced together from court and municipal records and other surviving documents. As a child, Caravaggio was known as Michelangelo Merisi, a reference to his birth on the feast day of the Archangel Michael. The artist grew up between the quiet agricultural town of Caravaggio in Lombardy and the bustling city of Milan where his father, a master stone mason, worked. Though of lower social status, Caravaggio's family had elite ties. Caravaggio's aunt had served as a wet-nurse to the children of the Milanese Sforza nobility, and members of the Sforza family, notably the Marchese Francesco I Sforza di Caravaggio and his wife, Costanza Colonna, witnessed the wedding of Caravaggio's parents in 1571. Costanza Colonna would later become a supporter of the artist during his many flights from the law, although she never personally acquired a painting.
In August 1576, when Caravaggio was five years old, Milan suffered from an outbreak of the bubonic plague. Though the artist and his family retreated to the Caravaggio countryside, by October of 1577 his father, paternal grandparents, and uncle had all died from the plague. By 1592, aged 21, Caravaggio had also lost his mother and youngest brother. The family land was divided among the remaining siblings and sold and Caravaggio left permanently for Milan where he supported himself through portrait painting.
Early Training and Work
It is probable that Caravaggio embarked upon his artistic career armed with a knowledge of Renaissance painters. Art historian David M. Stone notes that Caravaggio's work betrays the influence of numerous Italian masters, including Savoldo, Moretto, Lotto, Giorgione, Palma Vecchi, Titian, and Leonardo da Vinci. Caravaggio almost certainly received some form of Classical education and was aware of key texts of his time. As art historian Sharon Gregory has demonstrated, Caravaggio would have studied Giorgio Vasari's 1550 The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, from Cimabue until Our Own Time, and used Vasari's text as inspiration and motivation for some of his paintings.
Milan in the late 16th-century was a dangerous, violent place, and, therefore, a setting ripe to tempt and provoke the young, rootless, traumatized, and possibly hot-headed artist. After his involvement in a murder the artist fled to Rome in either 1592 or 1593 and remained there until 1606. Here, Caravaggio spent several months as an assistant to the artist Giuseppe Cesari, a popular fresco painter. While in Cesari's employment Caravaggio mainly painted background flowers and fruits, he took from this experience an eye for detail and affection for the nuances of still-life paintings evident in the precise execution of fruits and flora in his own, later works.
Following his assistantship with Cesari Caravaggio came into contact with his future patron, Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte. Del Monte supported Caravaggio providing him with lodging, food and artistic commissions as well as introducing him into art collecting circles. Like del Monte other elite Roman art collectors such as Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani were attracted to the subjects of Caravaggio's early works: celebrations of music, works of still life and sensual portrayals of androgynous young men such as Amor Vincit Omnia (1602) which depicts a realistic, naked cupid atop symbols of war, science, music, and literature. These genre and secular works were his entrance into prestigious Roman patronage and catapulted him to artistic renown.
Mature Period
In 1599 Cardinal del Monte helped him secure his first major public works commission, the decoration of the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesci with scenes from the life of St. Matthew. A second appointment, to paint the side walls of the Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo with the crucifixion of St. Peter and the conversion of St. Paul, soon followed. With these commissions, the artist embarked on the radical reinterpretation of divine figures which would become a hallmark of his career. Caravaggio humanized divine individuals by rendering them as lower-class folk. In this manner, Caravaggio critiqued and subverted the pristine, idealized figures of the Italian Renaissance and Roman classical traditions. Examples of this approach can be seen in Death of a Virgin (1601-1606) and Judith Beheading Holofernes (1602), the latter painting had a profound effect on other artists particularly Artemisia Gentileschi who created a number of images of the same subject matter. Caravaggio's religious paintings received very mixed reviews with the realism of the works and the juxtaposition of holy individuals with modern, 17th-century interiors inflaming some critics. Indeed, many of Caravaggio's works were rejected by commissioning institutions on the grounds of blasphemous or indecent portrayals.
Caravaggio's time in Rome came to an end in a dramatic fashion. Court records indicate that Caravaggio was involved in myriad scrapes and mishaps of an increasingly violent nature, and was often protected from prosecution by witnesses reticent to confirm the artist's involvement for fear of reprisal from the artist's influential and prominent patrons. In one of the more colorful episodes, in April 24, 1604, Caravaggio started a brawl with a waiter regarding his order of eight cooked artichokes, in which the artist smashed the man's face with a plate. Caravaggio's temper, trouble with the law, and violent acts reached their climax on May 28, 1606, when Caravaggio murdered his former friend Ranuccio Tomassoni, possibly in the context of a duel. Caravaggio fled Rome before formal charges for the murder were leveled against him; he was sentenced to indefinite exile from the city, condemned as a murderer, and subject to a capital sentence which allowed anyone in the papal states to receive a monetary reward for killing him.
Late Period
The artist then spent nine months in the Spanish-controlled city of Naples, arriving there by September 1606. In this period Caravaggio began to experiment more with color and contrast taking his lead from Venetian painters such as Titian. In 1607 Caravaggio moved to Malta and it is probable that he was guaranteed safe passage by General Fabrizio Sforza Colonna, son of his protector Costanza Colonna. During his time in Malta Caravaggio achieved great success and prominence and on July 14, 1608, he was invested into the Order of the Knights of Malta. His works from this period are distinctive - he began to paint with increasingly rapid brushstrokes and utilized reddish-brown hues more prominently.
A month after receiving his title Caravaggio was involved in a violent, armed fight at the house of the organist of the Conventual Church of St. John. This upheaval resulted in Caravaggio's criminal detention, his escape from prison, and his flight to Syracuse in the fall of 1608. The Knights of Malta subsequently revoked the artist's honors in absentia on December 1, 1608. Caravaggio moved from Syracuse to Messina to Palermo and then back to Naples in 1609. In Naples armed men slashed the artist's face for reasons unknown, leaving Caravaggio with near-fatal wounds. After this event, he remained convalescing at Constanza Colonna's palace until July 1610. Caravaggio then attempted to return to Rome after learning that one of his prominent patrons had secured a papal pardon for him. When he arrived in Palo, however, he was mistakenly arrested and put in prison for two days. Soon after his release, on July 18, 1610, Caravaggio died of a fever, possibly malaria, at the age of 39.
The Legacy of Caravaggio
Caravaggio has been alternately identified as an exemplar of late Mannerist style, or as a harbinger of the Baroque era. Though only twenty-one works have been definitively attributed to the artist, Caravaggio was a formidable artistic influence both in his time and today. By 1605, other Roman artists were beginning to imitate his signature style, and shortly thereafter artists outside of Italy such as Rembrandt and Diego Velázquez were incorporating Caravaggio's dramatic lighting effects into their own, landmark works. Caravaggio's style quickly gained devoted followers, the 'Caravaggisti', who imbued their compositions with the qualities of Caravaggio's work. Caravaggio's paintings also inspired important poets of his time such as Cavalier Giambattista Marino.
Despite acclaim in his lifetime and immediately after, by the 18th century, Caravaggio's legacy was all but forgotten, aside from some interest by Neoclassical painters such as Jacques-Louis David. The modern and contemporary fascination with the artist is largely due to the efforts of Italian art historian Roberto Longhi, whose 1951 Milanese exhibition and his 1952 Caravaggio monograph returned the artist to the public eye and cemented his current status. The theatrical elements of Caravaggio's images and his cinematic lighting enables an easy transference to film and directors such as David LaChapelle and Martin Scorsese have cited him as an influence in their filmmaking. In this they have channeled the power and directness of Caravaggio's images utilizing his depictions of imperfect bodies and his ability to create a narrative from the point of climax to immerse viewers within their own storytelling medium. Today, Caravaggio is viewed as one of the most strikingly 'Modern' of the Great Masters.
Beyond compositional innovations, Caravaggio's legacy has also been connected to the ostensibly queer content of his paintings, a signifier of his own potential homosexuality. The interpretation of Caravaggio's androgynous, sensual, and partly dressed or naked young men through the lens of homosexual desire is a contested issue within Caravaggio scholarship. Some authors, such as Donald Posner and Graham L. Hammill, unequivocally declare that works such as these represent depictions of queer sensuality and seduction. Other authors, such as Creighton Gilbert and David Carrier note that current assessments of the homoerotic content in the artist's work anachronistically misattribute to the 16th and 17th centuries, 20th-century codes and ideas about queerness and image signification.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSedI1S4LFg
Images:
1. 1614-1621 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of The Supper at Emmaus
2. 1603-1604 Caravaggio painting The Entombment
3. 1605-1607 Michelangelo Caravaggio painting of The Flagellation of Christ,
4. 1599-1600 Caravaggio painting The Calling of St. Matthew
Background from {[https://www.theartstory.org/artist/caravaggio/life-and-legacy/]}
Biography of Caravaggio
Childhood
Reliable biographical information on Caravaggio is scarce and what does exist has been pieced together from court and municipal records and other surviving documents. As a child, Caravaggio was known as Michelangelo Merisi, a reference to his birth on the feast day of the Archangel Michael. The artist grew up between the quiet agricultural town of Caravaggio in Lombardy and the bustling city of Milan where his father, a master stone mason, worked. Though of lower social status, Caravaggio's family had elite ties. Caravaggio's aunt had served as a wet-nurse to the children of the Milanese Sforza nobility, and members of the Sforza family, notably the Marchese Francesco I Sforza di Caravaggio and his wife, Costanza Colonna, witnessed the wedding of Caravaggio's parents in 1571. Costanza Colonna would later become a supporter of the artist during his many flights from the law, although she never personally acquired a painting.
In August 1576, when Caravaggio was five years old, Milan suffered from an outbreak of the bubonic plague. Though the artist and his family retreated to the Caravaggio countryside, by October of 1577 his father, paternal grandparents, and uncle had all died from the plague. By 1592, aged 21, Caravaggio had also lost his mother and youngest brother. The family land was divided among the remaining siblings and sold and Caravaggio left permanently for Milan where he supported himself through portrait painting.
Early Training and Work
It is probable that Caravaggio embarked upon his artistic career armed with a knowledge of Renaissance painters. Art historian David M. Stone notes that Caravaggio's work betrays the influence of numerous Italian masters, including Savoldo, Moretto, Lotto, Giorgione, Palma Vecchi, Titian, and Leonardo da Vinci. Caravaggio almost certainly received some form of Classical education and was aware of key texts of his time. As art historian Sharon Gregory has demonstrated, Caravaggio would have studied Giorgio Vasari's 1550 The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, from Cimabue until Our Own Time, and used Vasari's text as inspiration and motivation for some of his paintings.
Milan in the late 16th-century was a dangerous, violent place, and, therefore, a setting ripe to tempt and provoke the young, rootless, traumatized, and possibly hot-headed artist. After his involvement in a murder the artist fled to Rome in either 1592 or 1593 and remained there until 1606. Here, Caravaggio spent several months as an assistant to the artist Giuseppe Cesari, a popular fresco painter. While in Cesari's employment Caravaggio mainly painted background flowers and fruits, he took from this experience an eye for detail and affection for the nuances of still-life paintings evident in the precise execution of fruits and flora in his own, later works.
Following his assistantship with Cesari Caravaggio came into contact with his future patron, Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte. Del Monte supported Caravaggio providing him with lodging, food and artistic commissions as well as introducing him into art collecting circles. Like del Monte other elite Roman art collectors such as Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani were attracted to the subjects of Caravaggio's early works: celebrations of music, works of still life and sensual portrayals of androgynous young men such as Amor Vincit Omnia (1602) which depicts a realistic, naked cupid atop symbols of war, science, music, and literature. These genre and secular works were his entrance into prestigious Roman patronage and catapulted him to artistic renown.
Mature Period
In 1599 Cardinal del Monte helped him secure his first major public works commission, the decoration of the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesci with scenes from the life of St. Matthew. A second appointment, to paint the side walls of the Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo with the crucifixion of St. Peter and the conversion of St. Paul, soon followed. With these commissions, the artist embarked on the radical reinterpretation of divine figures which would become a hallmark of his career. Caravaggio humanized divine individuals by rendering them as lower-class folk. In this manner, Caravaggio critiqued and subverted the pristine, idealized figures of the Italian Renaissance and Roman classical traditions. Examples of this approach can be seen in Death of a Virgin (1601-1606) and Judith Beheading Holofernes (1602), the latter painting had a profound effect on other artists particularly Artemisia Gentileschi who created a number of images of the same subject matter. Caravaggio's religious paintings received very mixed reviews with the realism of the works and the juxtaposition of holy individuals with modern, 17th-century interiors inflaming some critics. Indeed, many of Caravaggio's works were rejected by commissioning institutions on the grounds of blasphemous or indecent portrayals.
Caravaggio's time in Rome came to an end in a dramatic fashion. Court records indicate that Caravaggio was involved in myriad scrapes and mishaps of an increasingly violent nature, and was often protected from prosecution by witnesses reticent to confirm the artist's involvement for fear of reprisal from the artist's influential and prominent patrons. In one of the more colorful episodes, in April 24, 1604, Caravaggio started a brawl with a waiter regarding his order of eight cooked artichokes, in which the artist smashed the man's face with a plate. Caravaggio's temper, trouble with the law, and violent acts reached their climax on May 28, 1606, when Caravaggio murdered his former friend Ranuccio Tomassoni, possibly in the context of a duel. Caravaggio fled Rome before formal charges for the murder were leveled against him; he was sentenced to indefinite exile from the city, condemned as a murderer, and subject to a capital sentence which allowed anyone in the papal states to receive a monetary reward for killing him.
Late Period
The artist then spent nine months in the Spanish-controlled city of Naples, arriving there by September 1606. In this period Caravaggio began to experiment more with color and contrast taking his lead from Venetian painters such as Titian. In 1607 Caravaggio moved to Malta and it is probable that he was guaranteed safe passage by General Fabrizio Sforza Colonna, son of his protector Costanza Colonna. During his time in Malta Caravaggio achieved great success and prominence and on July 14, 1608, he was invested into the Order of the Knights of Malta. His works from this period are distinctive - he began to paint with increasingly rapid brushstrokes and utilized reddish-brown hues more prominently.
A month after receiving his title Caravaggio was involved in a violent, armed fight at the house of the organist of the Conventual Church of St. John. This upheaval resulted in Caravaggio's criminal detention, his escape from prison, and his flight to Syracuse in the fall of 1608. The Knights of Malta subsequently revoked the artist's honors in absentia on December 1, 1608. Caravaggio moved from Syracuse to Messina to Palermo and then back to Naples in 1609. In Naples armed men slashed the artist's face for reasons unknown, leaving Caravaggio with near-fatal wounds. After this event, he remained convalescing at Constanza Colonna's palace until July 1610. Caravaggio then attempted to return to Rome after learning that one of his prominent patrons had secured a papal pardon for him. When he arrived in Palo, however, he was mistakenly arrested and put in prison for two days. Soon after his release, on July 18, 1610, Caravaggio died of a fever, possibly malaria, at the age of 39.
The Legacy of Caravaggio
Caravaggio has been alternately identified as an exemplar of late Mannerist style, or as a harbinger of the Baroque era. Though only twenty-one works have been definitively attributed to the artist, Caravaggio was a formidable artistic influence both in his time and today. By 1605, other Roman artists were beginning to imitate his signature style, and shortly thereafter artists outside of Italy such as Rembrandt and Diego Velázquez were incorporating Caravaggio's dramatic lighting effects into their own, landmark works. Caravaggio's style quickly gained devoted followers, the 'Caravaggisti', who imbued their compositions with the qualities of Caravaggio's work. Caravaggio's paintings also inspired important poets of his time such as Cavalier Giambattista Marino.
Despite acclaim in his lifetime and immediately after, by the 18th century, Caravaggio's legacy was all but forgotten, aside from some interest by Neoclassical painters such as Jacques-Louis David. The modern and contemporary fascination with the artist is largely due to the efforts of Italian art historian Roberto Longhi, whose 1951 Milanese exhibition and his 1952 Caravaggio monograph returned the artist to the public eye and cemented his current status. The theatrical elements of Caravaggio's images and his cinematic lighting enables an easy transference to film and directors such as David LaChapelle and Martin Scorsese have cited him as an influence in their filmmaking. In this they have channeled the power and directness of Caravaggio's images utilizing his depictions of imperfect bodies and his ability to create a narrative from the point of climax to immerse viewers within their own storytelling medium. Today, Caravaggio is viewed as one of the most strikingly 'Modern' of the Great Masters.
Beyond compositional innovations, Caravaggio's legacy has also been connected to the ostensibly queer content of his paintings, a signifier of his own potential homosexuality. The interpretation of Caravaggio's androgynous, sensual, and partly dressed or naked young men through the lens of homosexual desire is a contested issue within Caravaggio scholarship. Some authors, such as Donald Posner and Graham L. Hammill, unequivocally declare that works such as these represent depictions of queer sensuality and seduction. Other authors, such as Creighton Gilbert and David Carrier note that current assessments of the homoerotic content in the artist's work anachronistically misattribute to the 16th and 17th centuries, 20th-century codes and ideas about queerness and image signification.
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Thanks for the share. Most of my time vacationing in Italy was spent going to see his works.
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