Overview on Caravaggio’s Art Masterpieces
Caravaggio has gone down in history alongside some of the greatest artists of the High Renaissance Baroque era because of his very specific technic and his dramatic approach to Baroque art. He is partially responsible for some of the most outstanding paintings of his time, with The Entombment of Christ being “one of his most admired altarpieces”. It is in my intention to analyse this paintings’ historic background and to add a few of my own personal saobservations.
Born Michelangelo Merisi, Caravaggio bestowed the name of his hometown in Lombardy, Northern Italy upon himself. When he was 21, he moved to Rome, the state of art and agriculture. After struggling at first in the capital, in 1959 his luck had taken a turn for the better. Cardinal Francesco del Monte was inspired by Caravaggio’s talent and decided to take him under his wing. Through the many connections the Cardinal had, people began showing a serious interest in Caravaggio’s work and it were as if he became famous overnight.
This Caravaggio painting was painted in the Baroque period. In the 17th Century a significant amount of people had left the Catholic Church leading to a Counter-Reformation against the Protestant Reformation. A huge part of the Counter-Reformation was that the Catholic Church began commissioning artwork with the intention of catching people’s attention. This is, arguably, the main reason Caravaggio was approached to paint some of his most famous work, ie, The Calling of Saint Matthew (1599-1600) painted for the Contarelli Chapel in the church of the French congregation, San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. The obvious assumption I had made was that they were commissioning these masterpieces to lure people back into the Church to appreciate the paintings and as a way of communicating ideas to the masses; a picture truly does speak a thousand words. So, Caravaggio was approached to paint The Entombment of Christ for the Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella and was produced sometime between 1603-1604.
Caravaggio had a specific technic in his art that made his work standout in comparison with other artists at the time. In his version of The Entombment of Christ we see 5 figures standing by the body of Christ with different movements and expressions tailored to each person. He uses this almost black backdrop and has these dramatic lighting scenarios. It is almost as if a spotlight is being shone on Christ and the other 5 figures are being shadowed. They call this technic chiaroscurotenebroso. This is the extreme contrasts from dark to light that we see in Caravaggio’s paintings. This is so the audience is captivated towards the light and that the main thing in the painting that stands out is Christ himself.
A couple of other observations I made regarding this painting was the naturalistic approach that Caravaggio went for. One thing Caravaggio was famous for was using ordinary people to model for his paintings, to give his paintings a more realistic and relatable tone for ordinary people. In this painting we see who is believed to be St John the Evangelist cradling the head of Christ, Nicodemus (a secret disciple of Christ) holds him at the side of his legs while what is believed to be the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and Mary of Clopas expressing different forms of grief behind the men.
When we look at the Virgin Mary for example, we see that she is appears to be much older looking than how she is usually depicted. This is because there was a strong tradition in the Catholic Church where they would not show the Virgin Mary in her older years. They always depicted her young as if she remained in her purity. This was a part of the naturalistic approach Caravaggio went for in which he goes against the ‘norm’. I believe that in this painting, another way of assessing the scene is by paying attention to each individuals movement or placement of their hands. Once again focusing on the Virgin Mary, she is motioning them towards the corpse of her son in an embracive manner as if she is reaching out to try and touch him.
It seems to me as if there is a lot of action going on within the painting; everybody is looking in different directions and portraying different emotions. I believe that these are intended to be a variety of different way that we as Christians could react or contemplate the death of Christ. In the Baroque period they were trying to infuse their paintings with lots of movement, drama, theatre and action. If we were to compare this with artwork that took place 100 years prior – in the Renaissance – you would see everything very symmetrically balanced compared to paintings such as The Entombment of Christ.
On the far left we see St John the Evangelist wearing green and wrapped with a red robe. I believe that the vibrant red colour is representing a flow of blood to symbolise the death of Christ. Also, in the centre of the painting in the orange we see Nicodemus very theatrically yet realistically posed while holding the body of Christ. I think Caravaggio was trying to interpret the reality here that Christ was a fully grown adult, and even though he appears to be thin, he is likely to be quite heavy. Therefore, Nicodemus is bent over in such an uncomfortable and unnatural position. In my opinion, Christ seems to be the only steady figure anchoring the entire painting whereas everybody else is a bit hysterical and unsteady.
Another popular theme of Baroque-art was that all pieces really tried to connect with its viewers. one of the first things that drew my attention to this painting was that I noticed that it looked as if Nicodemus is breaking the fourth wall and looking directly at us, the viewer. I think this might have been done with the intention to drag us viewers into the painting, to have us feel the different emotions and pain these 5 are portraying.
I also picked up the dramatic positioning of Mary of Clopas, with her arms held up to the air. It seems to me that Mary of Clopas is foreshadowing the resurrection. With her heavenly plea I believe that it looks like she is begging to the heavens for forgiveness or peace on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ. Another think I noticed that was an indication of resurrection was the plant in the bottom left of the screen just below Christs falling hand. Upon further research I discovered that this particular plant was called a “mullein”. At the time of this painting, it was thought that the mullein plant was to have medicinal properties and some people even claimed that the plant could ward off evil spirits.
This painting is such an emotional masterpiece, in my opinion. Like I mentioned previously, the main goal of Baroque art is to really try and connect with its viewers and I truly believe that this painting in particular does have the powerful effect of pulling you into it. You are left gazing at it and you can’t help but feel the sorrow of the people in this painting. And even though this painting is well over 400 years old its still quite relatable. A huge part of life is loss and I think Caravaggio executed that brilliantly in this painting because when you look at it you can help but sympathise. I gathered that the main theme of this painting was loss and the many things that comes with that; grief, sadness, sorrow and so on.
Caravaggio died when he was only 36 years old. A copy of The Entombment of Christ still remains in the chapel and the original is in Vatican Pinacoteca and remains a huge tourist attraction. As someone that has never really shown an interest in art, I can honestly say that after viewing multiple pieces of Caravaggio’s work that I have truly been left mesmerized, especially with this painting in particular. The story-telling one can gather from a painting is truly remarkable. Its true the saying that a picture really does speaks a thousand words.
