Volta: “Apollo's Chariot” about 1585/87
by Baldassare Croce (about 1553/1628) for Paolo
I Sforza
“Judith cutting off Holofernes' head” about 1599/1600
“Judith and
Holofernes is the beginning of a long series of violent themes treated by the
painter Caravaggio in which he would explore the dominant thoughts, the meaning
of life and the tragic conflict between persecutors and victims. With the central
assumption another theme is interwoven, the opposition between the beautiful,
victorious Judith and the horrible assistant alluding to the contrast between
youth and old age” (Mina Gregori)
“He adhered
perfectly, except for the presence of the assistant, to the story of the book
of Judith from the Old Testament accepted by Orthodox and Roman Catholics but
not by Jews and Protestants who rate it as an apocryphal texts. Another reason,
this, to think that the choice of the subject also has a powerful anti-Lutheran
meaning. He chooses as always to represent the climax of the action: the most
terrible and tragic moment of the beheading of Holofernes here hanging between
life and death in a scene where the use of light is the protagonist, lighting
with skillful chiaroscuro quite a surreal scene” (Rossella Vodret)
“Narcissus” about 1598 and “St. Francis in Meditation” about 1605 three masterpieces of outstanding
beauty by Michelangelo Merisi aka Caravaggio
(1571/1610)
In the
sacristy of S.
Maria della Concezione (St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception)
there is a copy of S. Francis in Meditation maybe painted by Bartolomeo
Manfredi, from the original of Carpineto Romano found in 1968 and now here at
Palazzo Barberini
Some
scholars even claim that neither is the original by Caravaggio
“With the
exception of Michelangelo, no other Italian painter exercised so great an
influence on later painters” (Bernard Berenson)
“Sacred Love and Profane Love” about 1602 by Giovanni Baglione (1566/1643)
The face of
the demon at the bottom is the portrait of Caravaggio hated by Baglione who
denounced him for libel in 1603 together with Onorio Longhi with whom
Caravaggio had written a series of scurrilous poems
Caravaggio
was sentenced to nearly a month in jail and then, through the intercession of
the French ambassador, he was released. He still had to undergo house arrest.
Eventually the trial was eventually covered up without further criminal
consequences
Baglione
was deeply influenced by the stratospheric genius of Caravaggio even though he
hated him and he was one of his biographer in his book about the lives of
artists contemporary to him
“St. Francis and the Angel” about 1612/13 by Orazio Lomi aka Orazio Gentileschi (1563/1639)
“Unlike
others, Gentileschi was not subjugated by the strong personality of Caravaggio,
but he selected the stimuli accurately showing preference for the clear and
transparent light of the first works of the master, and, as demonstrated by
this St. Francis, assembling immediately, without hesitation, a resounding
summary with what was his basic cultural component: the reformed paintings by
Santi di Tito and Andrea Commodi, combined with a particular sensitivity
inherent in Tuscan colors, but sharpened by his long experience in the papal
construction sites” (Rossella Vodret)
“Bacchus and a Drinker” about 1610 by Bartolomeo Manfredi (1587/about 1620)
“Among the
first members of the so called Caravaggio's 'school', rather than an
interpreter he was an imitator, who drew the patterns of composition and
lighting by Roman works of the master, so much so that many of his works were
considered by the hand of Caravaggio himself” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano
Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
“St. Gregory the Great” by Jusepe
de Ribera aka Spagnoletto (1591/1652) to whom it was recently attributed
based on documentary evidence
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