Still Life: A Basket of Fruit

The Sick Musician - The Lute Player

Shield with the Gorgon's Head

 ***** Insert: the Conversion of Saul ****

     " Caravaggio painted Conversion of Saint Paul for the Cerasi chapel in the Roman church of Santa Maria del Popolo.  It illustrates the conversion fo the pharisee Saul to Christianity, when he became the disciple Paul.  The saint-to-be appears amid his conversion, flat on his back with his arms thrown up.  In the background an old hostler [horse-groom] seems preoccupied with taking care of the horse.  At first inspection, little here suggests the momentous significance of the spiritual event taking place. The painting's viewers seem to be witnessing a mere stable accident, not a man overcome by a great miracle.  Although Caravaggio departed from traditional depictions of such religious scenes, the eloquence and humanity with which he imbued his paintings impressed many.  As a result, Caravaggio found numerous sympathetic patrons both within the Roman Catholic Church and from secular realms."

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, p. 732

Presentation of the Head of John the Baptist

***** insert: The Calling of St. Matthew *****

     "A piercing ray of light illuminating a world of darkness and bearing a spiritual message is also a central feature of one of Caravaggio's early masterpieces, Calling of Saint Matthew.  It is one of two large canvases honoring Saint Matthew the artist painted for the side walls of the Contarelli chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome.  The commonplace setting is typical of Caravaggio - a bland street scene with a plain building wall serving as a backdrop.  Into this mundane environment, cloaked in mysterious shadow and almost unseen, Christ, identifiable initially only by his indistinct halo, enters from the right.  With a commanding gesture that recalls that of the Lord in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, he summons Levi, the Roman tax collector, to a higher calling.  The astonished tax collector, whose face is highlighted for viewers by the beam of light emanating from an unspecified source above Christ's head and outside the picture, points to himself in disbelief.  Although Christ's extended arm is reminiscent of the Lord in Creation of Adam, the position of Christ's hand and wrist is similar to that of Adam.  This reference is highly appropriate - theologically, Christ is the second Adam.  While Adam was responsible for the Fall of Man, Christ is responsible for human redemption.  The conversion of Levi (who became Matthew) brought his salvation."

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, p. 734

Descent from the Cross - The Entombment of Christ

     "In 1603, Caravaggio produced a large-scale painting, Entombment, for the Chapel of Pietro Vittrice at Santa Maria in Vallicella in Rome.  This work includes all the hallmarks of Caravaggio's distinctive style: the plebian figure types (particularly visible in the scruffy, worn face of Nicodemus - a Pharisee who Christ taught - who holds Christ's legs in the foreground), the stark use of darks and lights, and the invitation for viewers to participate in the scene.  As in Conversion of Saint Paul, the action takes place here in the foreground.  The artist positioned the figures on a stone slab whose corner appears to extend into the viewer's space.  This suggests that Christ's body will be laid directly in front of viewers."

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, p. 734

Two Renditions of the Supper at Emmaus

     "Caravaggio's use of light is certainly dramatic.  The stark contrast of light and dark was a feature of Caravaggio's style that first shocked and then fascinated his contemporaries.  Caravaggio's use of dark settings enveloping their occupants, which profoundly influenced European art, has been called tenebrism, from the Italian word tenebroso, or "shadowy" manner.  Although tenebrism was widespread in seventeenth-century art, it made its most emphatic appearance in the art of Spain and of the Netherlands.  In Caravaggio's work, tenebrism also contributed mightily to the essential meaning of his pictures."

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, pp. 733 - 734

 *****insert: David and Goliath *****