Netizens spoofed "The Crucifixion of Ding Ri"
Chaos, violence and death are the norm in Caravaggio's paintings. As a master of the Italian Baroque school in the 16th century, Caravaggio's life is like his work, intoxicating and full of danger. Italian art critic Roberto Longi said: "Without Caravaggio, there would be no Ribera, Fomel, La Tour and Rembrandt. ”
Text/Chen Tingting
If it weren't for social networks, it would be difficult to associate Caravaggio with justin Bieber's two names. In early April 2016, a photo of Bieber being neck-choked at a nightclub for using the other person's arm to extinguish smoke went viral. Some people turned his PS into an oil painting, jokingly called "The Crucifixion of Ding Ri". Netizens on Reddit, a well-known social news forum site in the United States, said: "Looks like Caravaggio's work. ”
More people remember the Ukrainian parliament's famous series of brawls – perfect golden ratios, just the right composition, dramatic scenes, each of which "captures the essence of Caravaggio". One of the photographs of Ukrainian opposition lawmakers with a beaten head and covered in blood is comparable to Caravaggio's Burial of Christ in 1602.
There is also this one, which has a triangular composition that resembles Caravaggio's painting Isaac the Sacrifice. (Photo/Men's Outfit)
Why Caravaggio and not Van Gogh, Cézanne, Picasso? This has to do with Caravaggio's unique style. Never before has a painter portrayed chaos, violence and death so directly in his work as Caravaggio, and his life has been as intoxicating and dangerous as his work.
In 16th-century Italy, Caravaggio was an outlier. He was irritable by nature, fantasizing about becoming a knight, always carrying a sword "out of place". In painting, he is good at creating violent and bloody pictures in a realistic way, including killing scenes such as beheading.
In Judi's Killing of Holophony (1599), Caravaggio depicts a passage in the Biblical story in which the young woman Judi, in order to save her homeland besieged by enemy troops, risked her life to confuse the enemy general Holophony with her beauty, and one night cut off Hisophony's head with her sword while he was asleep. In the picture, the beheaded Holofani has a stunned expression, blood is splashed, and the scene is vicious.
It should be known that Renaissance painting emphasizes harmony and tranquility, such as Raphael's "Madonna on the Meadow", while Caravaggio lived in the era of the death of the masters of the Renaissance, and the Baroque school represented by him became passionate and sporty. There is no one else like this who directly depicts the tense scene of the decapitation of the head, except Caravaggio.
After being knighted, Caravaggio painted a 17-foot-long Beheading of John the Baptist (1608). The painting also has a bloody scene: in a dark prison, an upper-lying executioner drags John the Baptist's body to be beheaded, the young girl Salome holds the gold basin used to hold John the Baptist's head, and an old woman next to her holds her head with frightened hands.
"Art should bring beauty to people, but looking at these figures surrounding John the Baptist, you will see that something is wrong. Caravaggio gives us double the enjoyment of death: the death of John the Baptist, and the death of our most beautiful fantasies about art. The BBC documentary The Power of Art: Caravaggio commented.
It is also the only autographed painting by Caravaggio, who wrote his name in a pool of Blood of John the Baptist, as if confessing his crimes. A year later, Caravaggio created Salome with John the Baptist's Head— this time, he placed his head on Salome's plate.
When Caravaggio fled for injury, he painted David with Goliath's head in his hand (1609). The Painting depicts Goliath as a bloody, abominable-looking head, and the shepherd David's sword is inscribed with a Latin inscription: "Humility triumphs over pride." The generally accepted reading is that David represents Caravaggio's pious, courageous saintly side, Goliath represents Caravaggio's ferocious, ugly criminal side, and the story ends with the triumph of good over evil, symbolizing Caravaggio's heart for forgiveness.
In just 39 years of his life, Caravaggio traveled almost all of Italy: Rome, Naples, Malta, Sicily... Before being appreciated, he lived in a cheap house in the lower Tiber, drinking, lusting, gambling, and fighting. Between 1600 and 1605, Caravaggio recorded 11 violations. His motto was: "There is no hope and no fear." ”
Anyone who looks at Caravaggio's painting is like watching a movie or a play, and the real event is happening right in front of you. The British historian Simon Shama said of Caravaggio's The Calling of St. Matthew (1599): "The horror, the chaos, the excitement, the out-of-control characters are scattered around, and the scene is like a quick glance when you pass by." Everything was like a flash of light, and the scene of swaying, stuttering, and screaming was frozen. ”
Perhaps because of the cruelty of life seen in Rome in his early years, Caravaggio's paintings are extremely close to reality, "not painting images that are not in life". In his pen, Christ and the sages became commoners, and fishermen, prostitutes, peasants, workers, and tramps became heavenly backgrounds. Death is a true representation in his pen, whether he paints mythological or religious figures.
In The Burial of Christ, Caravaggio paints Christ as a real corpse, with bloodless skin and paralyzed limbs, like an ordinary mortal, imagining the controversy caused at the time. When painting The Death of the Virgin Mary (1603), he even got the body of a drowned prostitute from the morgue and dressed her up as the Virgin Mary. The Virgin in the painting has a green complexion, a swollen body, bare feet, and the people around her all show sadness caused by a death. According to the Catholic position at the time, the Virgin Mary did not die, but was taken to heaven by angels. Caravaggio's painting is entirely a "politically incorrect" work.
Caravaggio at this time had already shown a violent and aggressive nature. Because one of her favorite female models was favored by other men, Caravaggio sneaked up on the man in Piazza Navona, but fortunately did not cause a bloody crime. In 1606, Caravaggio began a life of exile after a woman had a fight with a swordsman and killed him on the tennis court. It is hard to imagine that a famous painter would be wanted by the Holy See —anyone who puts his head in a basket will receive a bounty.
In any case, Caravaggio brought a new style to Western art. Italian art critic Roberto Longi said: "Without Caravaggio, there would be no Ribera, Fomel, La Tour and Rembrandt. Caravaggio expressed his confession in one bloody painting after another, but unfortunately, those paintings were ultimately unable to save him.