If the prodigal son in the history of Western art is selected, the painter Caravaggio will definitely rank in the top five. He was a brothel and tavern patron, a blasphemous murderer, a meat-jerk hybrid, an irritable and brutal alcoholic, but his paintings were full of charm. In short, the word evil charm is the most suitable for him. Today, we will not talk about all the bad deeds he just had, we will only talk about his "sexual orientation". Is he gay? Let's answer this question from his paintings.
Myth 1: He's gay! The woman in his painting is ugly, but the "base friend" is portrayed beautifully.
There are so many beautiful people in the world, but Caravaggio is not good at all. Caravaggio loves to paint three kinds of subjects: one is a mythological theme, one is a realistic genre theme, and the other is a beautiful juvenile theme.
Caravaggio The Dinner of Emmaus
In his paintings, there are basically very few women. The most famous woman should be the Virgin Mary.
What image should the Virgin Mary be in our hearts? She should be the beauty of Raphael's paintings- she does not eat human fireworks, noble and holy, and her temperament is mysterious. No matter what age, it is so elegant, idealized and pure.
Raphael, "Our Lady of the Candelabra"
However, Caravaggio is so shocking, he never paints beautiful women, even if he depicts the subject of the Virgin, he also paints such a glorious image of the Virgin into a super ugly look -
Caravaggio Partial view of The Death of the Virgin
You read that right, the woman in red in the picture is the Virgin! Our Lady's hair was disheveled, her body puffy, her stomach swollen, her skin purple and yellow, her face gray, like the body of an ordinary woman who had endured great sickness and finally died. Some people say, this is the Virgin, this is a drowning prostitute fished out of the river!
But do you think he just likes to make all the characters ugly? When he paints young men, he takes a turn for the worse— he loves to have a 16-year-old boy, Minnetti, play a variety of characters in the paintings, a bright-eyed, toothless teenager with a girlish freshness. Some people say that they saw the ambiguity of the two in Caravaggio's studio. Let's take a look at how Caravaggio drew his good "friend".
Bacchus the Slightly Drunk Dionysus
Dionysus, a very representative of the Greek gods, is the god of harvest, he inspires music and dance all the time, it can be said that he is the source of joy, is a very debauched, indulgent figure. But the Dionysus played by Minnetti in the picture, the skin is full and round, the cheeks are red, and the eyebrows are low and a "small" face, which is basically a well-nourished teenager to participate in the wine banquet!
And what is even more exaggerated is that it is said that the vessel in the lower left corner of the wine, after the posterity irradiated it with X-rays, found that there was a self-portrait of Caravaggio on it, but he covered his image with paint after completing the painting. Is caravaggio willing to be held in the mouth of a beautiful boy like wine? How poetic and ambiguous!
"The Lute Player"
The beauty of the youth in this painting is even more obvious. Or Minnetti, the eyes, fingers, lips, are all super small fresh meat. And the sheet music on his desk turned out to be a complete piece of music called "Pastoral Song", and there was a lyric that went like this: You know, I love you and Adore you... I belong to you. “
Is this Caravaggio confessing to the boy in the portrait? So blunt and explicit, Xiao Yu felt that he was going to blush!
"The Boy Holding the Fruit Basket"
Cupid the Victor
St. John the Baptist
"The Boy Who Cuts the Fruit"
The Musicians
The paintings above were all painted by Caravaggio for the girly boys. The beautiful teenager in the painting either bows her head slightly, gently opens her lips, and small exposed shoulders, revealing an elegant and young and shy beauty, or completely naked, with childlike innocence and purity. But the beautiful teenagers in this painting are all surrounded by flowers and fruits, showing a kind of flower and branch, and weak and weak girlishness, and the man's strength is not shown at all, but it is full of sexual innuendo.
David's Head by Tegolia
He even painted a picture of himself as the head of the decapitated Goliath, and let the little fresh flesh turn into David carrying his own head. Could it be that Caravaggio's love for small fresh meat has reached the point where he can give his life?
Xiaoyu's speculation is a bit bloody, but it is not unfounded, and historical records point out that in 1603, he was accused of sharing a bardassa (referring to the kind of male who played a female role in society and sexual behavior) with friends, which is a hermaphrodite in our eyes today.
As a result, the idea that Caravaggio is gay or bisexual is widely spread.
Guess two: He's not gay! He was just hired to paint.
Although there was a lot of speculation, many scholars later raised objections. In the 15th and 16th centuries in which Caravaggio lived, pagan themes increased, more often as a rebellion against harsh religious themes, so the expression of same-sex love slowly became popular. At the same time, the tolerance of homosexuality in the society at that time was more relaxed and tolerant than in the 19th century.
However, even if society is tolerant of homosexuality, it is different from us today! 5 or 6 centuries ago, if Caravaggio was really such a bold person to admit and express his homosexuality, and to paint these works in paintings to show his attitude, it would be a violation of customs and lawlessness.
Moreover, Caravaggio was a painter who was funded by a buyer, and his work had to meet the requirements of his employer. One of these very special painters may be a big reason for the birth of these "boy with girlish posture" paintings - this employer is Cardinal Monte, his private life is very debauched, that is, he, when he holds a ball, invites the bardassa. Caravaggio may have simply satisfied his employer's petty fetish of liking girly boys.
Which statement is the truth of the matter? In fact, we don't know, but these beautiful teenagers in Caravaggio's paintings and his exquisite painting skills have become an eternity in the history of art.
Because stories and legends are only embellishments, only art is eternal.
Stills from the 2007 film Caravaggio