Caravaggio!

We started our day with the one thing that we’ve all been SO looking forward to – our Italian class midterm! After that joyous occasion, we filed out of the ItaliaIdea school, down the few flights of stairs, and were able to breathe just a little bit easier.

After a bit of a break (which, for most of included lunch and/or a nap), we walked over to S. Luigi dei Francesi, a French church near the Pantheon, to hear the first part of Whitney’s presentation about Caravaggio. Unfortunately, the French apparently don’t have their churches open on Thursday, because the doors were quite firmly closed.

So, we trekked over to S. Maria del Popolo, in the Piazza del Popolo. Here, Whitney was finally able to give us half of her presentation, detailing some of Caravaggio’s later works that are located in the Cerasi Chapel. His two paintings, “Crucifixion of St. Peter” and “Conversion on the Way to Damascus,” (the former below on the top, and the latter in the middle), located on the side panels of the chapel, contrast sharply with Annibale Carracci's "Assumption of the Virgin Mary” (below, bottom) in the center.



The way that Caravaggio uses the contrast of light and dark was something revolutionary. He also depicted his subjects as incredibly real-looking people - viewing his work, I felt like I could see any of his subjects walking along the street. While some people disliked his work for this very reason (it was common belief that artists were supposed to take the natural world and make it beautiful, which Caravaggio steadfastly refused to do), it changed the way of painting from then on. He soon attracted a steady following of artists; however, in his typical manner, he would physically threaten anyone who dared to copy his method of painting. It wasn't until his death in 1610 that artists truly felt it was safe to paint in his manner!

- Mandie Tollefson