Caravaggio's Art

Young Sick Bacchus (Self-Portrait)
Galleria Borghese, Rome
67 cm x 53 cm

Going into the depth of Caravaggio's works during the Baroque movement. Personally, he's an Italian painter who lived between September 29, 1571, and his death on July 18, 1610. One of the articles being discussed is called: "Sex, Violence, and Faith: The Art of Caravaggio" by Amelia Arenas, which has the main ideas of Caravaggio's works being part of society itself. In the article, it mentions, "But when you get to the age of Caravaggio in your museum walk, you'll notice a visible change..." Later describing the works of art as being in a disturbing matter and so mentioned, "because, during his short and controversial life, the taste for his art spread to every corner of the Christian world..." Since he takes on the darker tone to the Christian art to what we mostly see when it comes to the area. 

One of the things that didn't mention in Chapter 15 is how it mentions his muses in his works. For instance, "One wonders, as Saint Augustine did, what draws a crowd to the scene of a sudden accident. Is it empathy for the victim or the strange beauty of someone else's pain? And that exact blend of compassion and sadism that Caravaggio's art arouses might just be what makes it so powerful." This passage connects to one of Modules 8 pages: Part 3: What is Early Modern England (and why is it important?) Where is mentioned the rise of religious sects under Elizabeth 1 ruling, and would be under the "Separatist/ Non-conformist/ Puritan" section which "practicing a radically new kind of Christianity which broke free of both Catholic and Anglican tradition..." The reason for that is because Caravaggio would take on the new meaning of Christianity and put it into a separate category and that's where the idea of Separatist comes to mind when thinking about it.

The Calling of St Matthew
Contarelli Chapel, 1599-1600
322 cm x 340 cm

The reason why I choose this article is that it hooked me to understand who Caravaggio was during that time and how his works are different from what I have seen during his time. Also mentioning, "Western art has produced many 'realism,' but Caravaggio invented realism as we know it...rather, the notion that artworks should involve us in an emotional, visceral, personal way." This meant that his idea of "realism" takes on a whole new meaning of the term itself, and comparing to the other artist during his time and to his would take on a huge difference to the art world. It helps the fuller understanding from Caravaggio by how the article goes on talking about his works of art and comparing to the time it took during that era, overall, his lifetime.

Here's a video about his work with Christianity

Work Cited

Amelia Arenas. “Sex, Violence and Faith: The Art of Caravaggio.” Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics, vol. 23, no. 3, [Trustees of Boston University through its publication Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics, Trustees of Boston University], 2016, pp. 35–52, https://doi.org/10.2307/arion.23.3.0035.