Caravaggio, Death of St. Matthew Essay

This paper will compare the themes found in the paintings "Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and an Angel" by Domenico di Bartolomeo Ubaldini (Puligo) and "Madonna Enthroned" by Giotto. Both paintings deal with fables from the Christian faith but were executed during different periods in art. The Giotto painting was created around 1310 and the Puglio painting was executed between 1518 – 1520. Here, these two paintings have similar themes both at the extreme beginnings and endings of the Italian Renaissance, and as such they serve to present an exceptional example of the developments in art that occurred within that time. This paper shall compare

David M. Stone has made some great points in his article, “Signature Killer: Caravaggio and the Poetics of Blood.” Stone set out to explain his ideas about Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio’s honorary knighthood and the social standing it gave him, and what it meant for Caravaggio to sign his name in The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, in the blood of St. John the Baptist himself. Stone gave great insight into the world of Caravaggio’s life and what he could have been implying through the act of signing in blood.

The name Matthew comes from the Greek Maththaios, which is derived from the Hebrew or Aramaic Mattiyah. His name means “gift of Yahweh” or simply “gift of God.” Saint Matthew was one of the twelve apostles and he wrote the Gospel according to Matthew. Although he was a publican, it is said the Saint Matthew was a Jew. Before his conversion, he was a publican, which was a tax collector, by profession. Not much is really known about Matthew later on in his life. His beginning of apostolic activity started in the communities of Palestine. He wrote for his countrymen in Palestine and composed his Gospel in his native Aramaic. This is refereed to as the “Hebrew tongue” which is mentioned in the Gospel and the Acts of

Man has been creating art for over 30,000 years. There are cave drawings, sculptures, Egyptian art, Greek Art, Modern Art and plenty more but to many, the Renaissance Art period is considered to be most important. Never had so many geniuses in art lived at one time and never had so many pieces of cherished art been produced. Two examples of Renaissance paintings are Cigoli’s Adoration of the Shepherds and Moretto da Brescia’s Entombment. Both paintings posses the attributes that were popular during the Renaissance period which I will now contrast and compare.

In the year of 1571, Caravaggio was born in Italy. At age 11, Caravaggio was orphaned, luckily he was apprenticed with a painter in Milan. His work became popular when he moved to Rome. Caravaggio's work became popular for the “tenebrism technique he used, which used shadow to emphasize lighter areas” (“Caravaggio”). This painting tells a biblical story about Judith Beheading Holofernes. In the picture, Judith is the women in the middle that is about to behead Holofernes, the man lying on the bed. The reason why she is doing this because she is saving her people from Holofernes. The women on the far left is Judith’s maid waiting for her to behead Holofernes (Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1599 by Caravaggio). Caravaggio used many elements

A tradition of journeying to Rome, Italy for training or to simply improve upon one’s artistic skills was carried out by many Dutch history and genre with landscape painters. As a result, the use of the Italians as a source of inspiration and emulation can be identified in their works and presents one of the underlying principles that connects the different thematic categories together. Hendrick ter Brugghen was a history painter who belonged to the Utrecht Caravaggists. Just as the name of the group implies, these artists were from Utrecht and heavily influenced by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Ter Brugghen’s Calling of Saint Matthew of 1621 provides an exemplary example of this. It is not only similar to Caravaggio’s own Calling of Saint Matthew of 1599 to 1600 with the subject

The art under analysis is the Supper at Emmaus by Merisi Da Caravaggio. The painting is one of the many Christian arts painted by Caravaggio during the Baroque art period. Due to the significance of the every aspect of the painting, the paper is structured in a way that every part deals with one aspect of the painting. The first part deals with the historical significance and the interpretation of the painting. In the same part, the religious significance of the paintings is explored. The second part involves the interpretation of the different techniques used by the artist and their significance in the painting the Supper at Emmaus. The paper also gives insight into the artist earlier life and the different factors that influenced his paintings

In this painting, he is being accused by the woman to the soldier. Caravaggio portrays the story of the Denial of St. Peter, as told in all four Gospels (Matthew, John, Luke, Mark) of the Bible. When Jesus was arrested, he prophesied that Peter, his disciple would denounce his name

Vittore Carpaccio’s symmetrical input truly served it’s purpose. Focusing on the center third of the painting, there’s a mere perfect symmetrical contrast of life and death top to bottom. Most impacting is the symmetrical division of the malnourished and tortured body of Jesus Christ, The left side of his body is in a lively sitting posture on the throne. While his right side is the embodiment of death, his punctured ribs and dangling arm. From the ground up, Carpaccio illustrates the contrast of life and death with minimal details in the painting. The supporting stones of the throne, directly below the arm rests, are divided by breakage, the left stone is cracked and falling apart, while the opposing stone appears to be intact. Vittore Carpaccio managed to capture the cycle of life with many elements one wouldn’t think of comparing life and death with. The top left portion of the throne is a half broken, followed by Jesus’s deadly posture to the falling apart ground stone of the throne, Death is captured in a very recognizable minimalistic form.

4. The Persuasive Art by Caravaggio and its Influence on other Painters After the Counter Reformation, Caravaggio's emerging ability to depict new religious paintings highly depicting the human feelings and dramatic emotion in his Chiaroscuro style provided to be an important inspiration for many artists throughout the ages which included masters such as Georges de La Tour in France and Gerard van Honthorst in the Netherlands. 4.1 Caravaggio (1571 - 1610) Italy The Calling of Saint Matthew (1599–1600) Caravaggio’s technique was one that highlighted realism through which he remained faithful to truthful details and never beyond that normally seen. He created a type of realism that griped the spectator’s attention to the symbolic

The scene itself is predominately black, and Bosch has made effective use of chiaroscuro to intensify the scene’s dramatic effect. Although the scene is incredibly dark and somber, Bosch includes glowing reds and blues which emerge out from the dark shadows – intensifying the drama and tension within the scene and adding an emotional quality. In particular, the bold reds are used throughout the painting to emphasize the sinister nature of the evil, grotesque figures. Moreover, the use of red adds depth to the dark atmosphere of Christ Carrying the Cross. Upon first glance, the viewer’s eye is immediately drawn to the diagonal arm of the cross behind Christ’s head, as the light brown shade of the wood juxtaposes with the darkness behind it [Fig. 1.3].

The first time I viewed Caravaggio’s artwork I experience a powerful image with several artistic styles used. This is the sacrifice of Isaac that is located in the Holy Bible. God ordered Abraham to take his son to the top of the mountain to perform the sacrifice. As Abraham proceeds, an angel rushes down from the heavens to stop Abraham. The painting is frozen at this exact moment. Caravaggio is a master Italian painter and it is visually represented here. This specific piece of art is a wonderful example of simple strategies artists to this day still use.

El Greco’s Lamentation of Christ is “a translation in paint of Michelangelo's late sculptured group of the Pietà in Florence Cathedral, at the time in Rome. The pattern and the feeling are the same. The figures of the Dead Christ, His Mother, Saint Mary Magdalene and Joseph of Arimathea make one compact group. Michelangelo achieved this by his new treatment of form; El Greco by paint, by employing broader, more continuous passages of color. The more vivid colors of Rome combine with the richer palette of Venice to convey the intensity of expression demanded by the subject. The horizontal composition of Venice, more suited to a narrative type of subject than to the single image, is given up and is only very rarely found appropriate in Spain. Michelangelo's Pietà group was not the only source on which El Greco drew: the arrangement of Christ's legs and his outspread arms, no less than the idea of viewing one of the two bearers of his body from the side and the other from behind, derive from Michelangelo's drawing for Vittoria Colonna, in which, as in El Greco's painting, the Virgin is placed behind and above Christ.” (Web Gallery of

The Calling of St Matthew was done by Caravaggio from 1599 to1600. The material that was used in order to paint this was oil on canvas. A quote shows how Caravaggio uses the composition in this painting “The Calling of Saint Matthew can be divided into two parts. The figures on the right form a vertical rectangle while those on the left create a horizontal block. The two sides are further distinguished by their clothing and symbolically, by Christ's hand.” Caravaggio’s use of light in this piece is done in such a way where it adds drama into the painting. With the use of light everyone is in the shadow and there are only two people who are in direct light. By doing this is specifically showcases these two people while making the others seem as if they are hidden. The man in the light is St Matthew and the reason that the light is on him is because he is being called by Jesus. As the

Caravaggio, arguably one of the best Baroque-artists of all time. Best known for his extremely detailed, and realistic style of Baroque art, which, when paired together with Annibale Carracci’ (1560 - 1609 ) classical style, allowed for him to overshadow the almost-mundane style of Mannerism. Though he was not considered the best artist of his time, when he was alive, he managed to reinvigorate religious art in both Rome and Naples, allowing for wide-spread change in the religious art world, that, after spreading through Rome, reached almost all corners of Europe. Though Caravaggio was acursed with a violent hand, he is considered to be one of the most influential artists of the 17th century, as his style revolved around taking certain characteristics from previous afamed artists, thus allowing for him to create his own unique style that was recognized nationwide, leading to the term ‘caravaggesque,’ meaning, when a painting mimics the style of his works, it is deemed as being ‘caravaggesque’.