Caravaggio’s Legacy
Noah Recently had the chance to make it out to the Caravaggio Exhibit that is currently being showcased at the LACMA, take a look into the life and times of one of the most controversial artists in history, through his eyes…
Caravaggio led a tumultuous life filled with passion, violence and glory. Actually we know much of Caravaggio through his police records. An advocate of the lower class, Caravaggio was notorious for brawling, getting in bar fights and carrying weapons, one of which actually killed one of his opponents during a tennis match. In the past his high-placed patrons had protected him from the consequences of his escapades, but this time they could do nothing and because of this he had to flee Rome and go into hiding. During this time he would be closely followed by enemies in pursuit of his life in which attempts were made regularly. Nonetheless he was still painting and taking on monumental commissions that only heightened his fame with every place that he visited. At the age of 36, his powerful friends in Rome made a breakthrough with the newly appointed Pope, and Caravaggio was given a pardon to return to Rome, although he would never make it back alive. Much controversy is said by his unexpected death in route from Naples to Rome, some say his past caught up with him, others say he died of a fever on the shores. None is clear, but the overall impact of a man’s short-lived pioneering style that would be often imitated but never duplicated, stands the test of time.
“With the exception of Michelangelo, no other Italian painter exercised so great an influence.”
The exhibit currently on display at the LACMA clearly shows his impact on the painters that followed him. Not mainly originals from the master himself, maybe 8 in all, but regardless impressive works from Gentileschi, Ribera, and Velasquez alike, all making this show a must see…
Best known for his a radical naturalism that combined close physical observation with a dramatic, even theatrical, use of chiaroscuro. Caravaggio preferred to paint his subjects as the eye sees them, and at a time of heavy religious influence he broke out of conventional methods and was able to tweak them to his own sensibilities. criticized often for pushing the limits, for example, using known prostitutes as a model for the The Death Of The Virgin and other paintings alike, he was successful in reducing the religious class to human terms.
Remembered as almost a martyr of the lower class, Caravaggio will continue to be a topic of conversation now, and surely in the years to come…
