His life was destined to be extraordinary—
His life was short, but his work influenced countless masters, Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Delacroix... All carry their mantle.
He was famous, but he managed his success badly.
He was also a troublemaker, dueling, killing, and escaping from prison, and his life was full of dangers and mysteries.
Caravaggio, 1595, Collection of the Ken bell Art Museum, USA
He is an alternative in the Western art world and the most famous "bad boy" in art history. He was the painter Caravaggio (1571-1610).
Caravaggio is the originator of the aesthetics of violence, with no more than 80 works surviving to date, and most of the masterpieces at the peak are basically "painful to look at".
"Juddah who cut off Holofloni's head"
But before 1593, Caravaggio was a young man who loved art, and there were not many dark sides in his work during this period, but more of a love for young boys and the pursuit of carnal desires.
The Musicians（c. 1595–96）
Musicians (Youth Concerts)
The Musicians shows the image of a young man full of sexual innuendo, and the young man with the trombone in the back row is Caravaggio himself. In this painting, the gender characteristics of the characters are not very obvious, which is also characteristic of Caravaggio's early works. In addition, several musicians in the painting do not see any happiness, and it is obvious that this is not the state of life that the people in the painting want, including the young Caravaggio himself.
Boy with a Basket of Fruit（c. 1593–94）
The boy holding the fruit basket
Bacchus(c. 1595）
Bakus
"Bacchus" is Caravaggio's provocative masterpiece: a very sexy young man wearing a flower crown made of grape branches and leaves, sitting on a sofa, seems to have drunk some wine, and his face and hands are slightly red. The skin is refined, the right arm is bare, the wine glass is held in the left hand, the shoulders are draped with beautifully wrinkled sheets, and the wine and pomegranate fruit on the table shine brightly.
Crucifixion of Saint Peter（c.1601）
St. Peter was crucified
Caravaggio's early works focused on pornography, violence in the middle, and death in the late period. Although his work is fascinating, he is a "sick" artist, and every fragment of his life is related to violence, a dangerous guy.
Created by Ottavio Leoni
«Portrait of Caravaggio»
It was created around 1621
His life was extremely chaotic and he was a frequent visitor to police stations, courts and prisons. To what extent is it "constant"? The surviving caravaggio is very sparse, except for a few accounts of Caravaggio by his contemporaries, and the excavation of his life by art historians and biographers is almost entirely from various police interrogation records and court trial records.
Caravaggio is artistically confident and intelligent, but in life he is unguarded and vindictive. He lived an almost frenzied life in Rome. But fortunately, under the protection of Cardinal Del Monte, Caravaggio was released less than 24 hours after each arrest.
In 1606, he committed a crime that no one could save– murder. In desperation, Caravaggio fled in a hurry with his painting tools.
Boy Bitten by a Lizard (c. 1593-94)
A boy bitten by a lizard
After fleeing to Malta, he was even given a knighthood (it seems that talented people still have people to know wherever they go). As the first person to get the knighthood title of "groundbreaking" crime, if you have a foothold, you can draw steadily, don't toss it. This is Caravaggio, and there is no "peace and self-preservation" in his genes. Not long after settling down in Malta, the "uncle" beat up his colleagues in the Order... Predictably, he went to jail again. However, this time he really did not stay long, some said that he himself escaped, and some said that he was rescued, and it is now impossible to verify. But what is certain is that he really ran out and continued to go into exile...
But the most puzzling thing is that even during the period of exile, whether in Napoli, Malta or Sicily, Caravaggio was as prolific as ever, and there was no shortage of buyers everywhere he went. Fell ill, and even relied on painting to cover medical expenses... His paintings are hard currency used in exchange for everything, almost equivalent to money. However, since he was wanted, the subject matter of his paintings has changed somewhat.
This dangerous, intoxicating and enigmatic painter was known in later generations for his major influence on the Baroque school and for his radical and innovative style of religious painting.
In Caravaggio's religious paintings, we find no grand scenes or warm feelings. In its place are murders, wounds and violence.
He brought with him a radical naturalism that combined near-physical precision observation with vivid and even dramatic chiaroscuro.
"The Inspiration of St. Matthew" Caravaggio
In his famous religious painting, The Inspiration of St. Matthew, Cavalachio uses a beam of light to take Jesus to a dark cabin in Rome, which is like a gambling stall. The paper paste on the windows darkened the room, and a group of people gathered under the identity of the underground witnessed this great moment, and half of the figures in the painting did not even notice the arrival of the two mysterious figures.
Jesus and St. Peter came in, and the picture was fixed on the outstretched fingers, "Who, me?" "Yes, it's you poor fellow, Matthew. We don't need people of high character to do this job, we need people like you. ”
St. John the Baptist who was beheaded, Caravaggio, 1608, collection of St. John's Church, Malta
Caravaggio does not show the emphasis on Christ Jesus, but rather conceals it. The more we can't see Jesus, the more we pay attention to His outstretched fingers. And along that finger there was a ray of light that made Matthew, the sinner, a disciple of Jesus, all for the sake of light.
The Doubts of St. Thomas, Caravaggio
In another painting, The Doubts of St. Thomas, Saint Christ grabs the wrist of the skeptic Thomas and guides his fingers into the depths of the wound until Thomas believes.
Caravaggio said: "You don't have to just look at my work, you don't have to stare so hard, you will feel it." ”
The Burial of Christ caravaggio
Why did Caravaggio's paintings carry such a radical naturalistic style?
Because outside the Vatican, where Catholic denominations are fighting over their souls, outside the palaces where the walls surround the ornately decorated cardinals live, there is a completely different Rome. There are sweat-smelling crowds that fill markets and squares; sour wine, old garlic heads, street boys; part-time soldiers who may steal your wallet or slit your throat in an instant; beggars, entertainers, jugglers, liars, and prostitutes, thousands of whom wander in Ortaccio (Rome and the red-light district set up in the 1500s). This evil Garden of Eden is located on the lower reaches of the Tiber River, and this is caravaggio's Rome.
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist（c. 1609）
Salome with the head of John the Baptist
The hardships and hardships of his youth, poverty and life at the bottom are finally reflected in his works.
Bacchus Dionysus, Caravaggio
The Roman god of dionysus, Bacchus, was the Greek myth of Dionysus, who held the intoxicating power of wine and was the guardian of agriculture and theater. In Greek and Roman mythology, Dionysus was always associated with joy and love. Caravaggio's Dionysus is rather weird. The sick Bacchus was a sick young man with a emaciated face, blue lips and dirty fingernails, which is said to be Caravaggio's self-portrait, when he had just come to Rome from Milan, sent people under the fence, and was seriously ill again.
Relying on his own intellect and dubious reputation, he lived in a cheap house, did not get drunk with other fallen painters night and night, and caused trouble all day. When wandering the streets, their motto is: "Nec spe, nec metu", "No hope, no fear".
David with Goliath's Head in His Hand Caravaggio
This "David with Goliath's Head in Hand" is his self-portrait. He portrays David as himself, but also as a demon in the painting.
Perhaps he hopes to be forgiven by expressing this sinful prayer in the painting, and perhaps by handing over his head in the painting, he can be saved in the real world. (From Sohu Wu Guanzhong)