Museum Discoveries: Jellyfish - cicerone2007 — LiveJournal. Caravaggio: Before the "cry of Medusa" Russian artist, author of the Gorgon painting

Found the first version of the famous work of Caravaggio

Recently, several paintings have been attributed to the great Italian artist, with more or less skepticism from art historians. However, none of these finds can be compared in their significance with Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's attribution of another version of the famous Medusa, which sheds light on the early period of the master's work and on the method of his work.

This well-known image, painted on canvas stretched over a shield, is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The plot for him Caravaggio took from Ovid's Metamorphoses. The hero of the Greek epic Perseus cut off the head of the Gorgon Medusa, looking at her reflection in a copper shield given to him by the goddess Athena, so as not to turn to stone from her terrible look. Caravaggio depicted on canvas the severed head of Medusa at the time of death: her eyes and mouth are open in horror, and blood is gushing from her neck.

This story was often repeated in Italian painting both before and after Caravaggio. It is known that Leonardo da Vinci worked on a painting inspired by the same myth, but it remained unfinished and was subsequently lost. It is possible that Caravaggio created his Medusa in silent rivalry with Leonardo, trying to perfect what the master failed to achieve.

The artist received an order to paint a picture on the plot of Ovid on the front shield from his patron, Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, envoy of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany to the Papal Court in Rome, who wanted to present the shield as a gift to the Grand Duke Ferdinand I de Medici.

Presumably, Caravaggio created the Medusa in 1597-1598, since, according to documents, on September 7, 1598, the shield was already handed over to Antonio Maria Bianchi, the custodian of the ducal weapons, and from that moment it was in Florence, and since 1601 it was exhibited in a personal collection the Duke's weapons, along with the ceremonial knightly armor, presented to him by the Persian Shah Abbas the Great.

Scientific research using X-rays and infrared rays over the past decades has allowed scientists to penetrate the secrets of many works of art. Explorations of Medusa from the Uffizi Gallery, however, did not bring any special discoveries.

Under the layer of painting, unlike other works of Caravaggio, no preparatory drawings were found, and this was surprising. It seemed impossible that the artist had immediately painted the image on the convex surface of the shield, making only minimal corrections.

There was another mystery as well. The Genoese poet Gaspare Murtola, who visited Rome in 1600, in one of his poems describes Caravaggio's Medusa, which he could see in his workshop. However, at that time the shield presented to the Grand Duke Ferdinando was already in Florence. Later, in 1605, an inventory of the artist's belongings was made, among which was a shield, which he supposedly kept under a mattress wrapped in a blanket. Is it possible that the poet Murtola saw another, absolutely identical work by Caravaggio?

The mystery gradually began to be solved when, in the early 90s, a Medusa shield appeared in a private collection in Milan, smaller than the one in the Uffizi, but otherwise completely identical to the work of Caravaggio. The discovery immediately attracted the attention of art historians, although at first many doubted the authenticity of this work, preferring to see it as an excellent copy of the famous image. Only Professor Ermanno Zoffili insisted on X-ray analysis of the Medusa, feeling the hand of Caravaggio in it.

The recently released album in Italian and English, edited by him, The First Medusa of Caravaggio, tells about the studies carried out over the past twenty years, which not only confirmed that this work belongs to Caravaggio, but also that it was she who was the first version of the Medusa, which the artist himself subsequently repeated for a gift to the Grand Duke.

X-ray analysis helps to understand how Caravaggio was looking for an image, rethinking, reworking it, achieving the most perfect performance.

First, a preliminary charcoal drawing was made, which the artist corrected a lot and changed its position, adapting to the convex surface of the shield. Initially, the eyes were lower, the mouth was shifted to the left, and the nose reached the position of the current upper lip. Then, on top of the drawing, Caravaggio made the first study with a brush, in which the facial features and dimensions of the image were very different from the first version. However, in the final version, the master returned to the drawing, retaining the dimensions of the study and making Medusa's features more human-like rather than a theatrical mask.

Unlike the Florentine Medusa, this work is signed. Caravaggio put his name in red paint: the signature was made, as it were, with blood from streams gushing from a severed head. This is reminiscent of the artist's signature on the painting "The Decapitation of St. John the Baptist, kept in the Valletta Cathedral on the island of Malta. Headless characters of biblical or ancient history accompanied Caravaggio throughout his life. He gave many of them his own features, and in the first "Medusa" (which art historians call "Medusa Murtola" in memory of the poems of the Genoese poet) the features of the artist are also guessed, which are somewhat softened in the second version, where there is a slight resemblance to Fillide Melandroni, model of Caravaggio.

Finally, it has been established with certainty that the artist first created a smaller Medusa, which he subsequently almost completely repeated on a larger shield, using the methods of copying through glass or a convex mirror that were common for that time.

Denis Mahon believes that, given the importance of the order, Cardinal Del Monte advised Caravaggio to first make the first version, and only then proceed to the main work.

While the "large" Medusa, destined for the Medici collection, went to Florence, the first remained in Rome. Subsequently, she ended up in the collection of the Colonna princes, patrons of Caravaggio, who helped the artist escape from the city after the murder of Ranuccio Tommasoni. This work has been exhibited in Milan, Düsseldorf and Vienna since 2000, and there is no doubt that many art lovers will be able to see it in the future.

Special for the Centenary

As the role of a woman in society increased, the image of the Gorgon Medusa changed, which eventually acquired feminine features. In a world where all power belonged to men, an independent woman was a threat, they tried to demonize her appearance, making her look like a monster. A similar fate was destined for most rebels, from Marie Antoinette to Hillary Clinton - they were all portrayed as a snake-haired monster.

From bestial monster to captivating beauty

The human imagination has spawned many monsters in female form: bewitching sirens with a girl's head and a bird's body, which destroyed more than one ship, luring it to underwater reefs; the Sphinx that devours people - a terrible-looking maiden with the body of a dog, feathered wings and a human head; as well as harpies that steal children and souls with clawed paws and wings, like a vulture, and with a woman's face and chest. But, undoubtedly, the most important character among them was Medusa Gorgon - a beautiful girl with a terrible look that turns all living things into stone, and writhing snakes that perched on her head instead of hair. However, her first images, dated to the ancient Greek archaic period (VII - the beginning of the V century BC), are far from modern ideas about this terrible character of myths. On ancient ceramic vases and tombstones found by archaeologists, Medusa is depicted as an animal-like creature with sharp boar fangs, bulging eyes and even a thick beard (the work of ancient Greek artisans - the potter Ergotimos and the artist Kleitias, black-figured terracotta stand, about 570 BC , Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). The ancient Greek poet Hesiod in his poem "Theogony" ("The Origin of the Gods") described Medusa as an ugly monster with sharp steel claws, whose entire body is covered with sparkling scales.

But in the 5th and 4th centuries BC - the classical period of Ancient Greece, when ancient culture reached its peak - the image of Gorgon Medusa began to change: the beard and fangs disappeared, and they were replaced by beautifully defined lips and plump cheeks. Thus, an earthenware jar, molded in the heyday of Hellenic culture, depicts a peacefully sleeping woman with curly hair and large white wings, who is grabbed by Perseus, while looking back at Athena (the work of the ancient Greek painter Polygnotus, a terracotta jug from Southern Italy, about 450-440 years BC, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). This is one of the earliest depictions of Medusa as a beautiful woman rather than a fearsome monster. Much later, during the Roman Empire, snakes appeared on her head. This is evidenced, for example, by a bronze decoration from the Roman ceremonial chariot of a triumphant of the 1st-2nd centuries AD, decorated with silver and copper inserts and the head of a Gorgon with small snakes neatly tied under her chin.

Exhibition of monsters in female form

According to Kiki Karoglow, curator of the exhibition Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art, such miniature snakes are more like an accessory than poisonous reptiles.

The exhibition taking place at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is dedicated to the transformation of the image of the Gorgon Medusa, on the example of which one can trace how society perceived independent women in different eras. It is worth noting that, in addition to art objects depicting Medusa, the exposition presents many figurines in the form of other monsters from ancient Greek myths - harpies, sirens, sphinxes. The exhibition covers the period from the Ancient World (a terracotta figurine of a rider on a horse. The beginning of the 3rd century BC. From the sanctuary of Apollo Gilates in Kourion in Cyprus. On the shield is a gorgoneion) to the present day. Contemporary exhibits include the famous Versace logo, a graphic marble sculpture of Rondanini's Medusa, and Edvard Munch's creepy Harpy painting.

Amulet from evil forces and the evil eye

In the 1st century AD, between the 2nd and 8th years, the ancient Roman poet Publius Ovid Nason wrote the poem "Metamorphoses", in which he interpreted the story of the Gorgon Medusa in his own way. According to him, Medusa, or Medusa - from ancient Greek her name is translated as "protector, mistress" - was a beautiful sea maiden, whose beauty captivated the god of the seas, Poseidon. He abused her in the temple of Pallas Athena, in which the girl tried to hide from his encroachments. Instead of punishing the lustful god, the warrior maiden unleashes all her anger on Medusa, turning the beauty into a winged monster. Hiding her ugly appearance, the Gorgon runs to the ends of the earth. There she is found by Perseus, who dreams of getting the head of the unfortunate Medusa, who, even after parting with her body, did not lose her monstrous strength. Armed with a copper shield donated by Athena with a surface polished to a shine, which he, in order not to accidentally meet the deadly gaze of a snake-haired monster, used it as a mirror, Perseus cuts off the head of Medusa (paintings by Christian Bernhard Rode “Athena hands Perseus a mirror shield”, Eugene-Romain Tyrion “ Perseus, the winner of Medusa, 1867). Interestingly, from the spilled blood of the defeated monster, not only poisonous reptiles appeared, destroying all life around them, but also corals, which they called so - red gorgonians. This speaks of the dual nature of the Gorgon Medusa, which, on the one hand, brought death, and on the other hand, gave life.

According to one of the legends, Medusa also had two older sisters who shared her fate with her, and this trinity was called the Gorgons, which means “terrible” in ancient Greek. Perseus presented the head with snakes swarming on it to Athena, who adorned her shield with it, which received the epithet "gorgonion" - "belonging to the gorgon." Since then, all the images of the head of Medusa began to be called that, which became quite popular among the people - the gorgoniones used warriors to intimidate enemies, covering their weapons with them, besides, it was believed that they protect from evil forces and the evil eye, so they began to decorate with snake-haired images amulets and entrances to dwellings (gorgonion on the door panel of the Amelo de Bisseux hotel in Paris, by Thomas Regnadin, circa 1660). Gorgoneions, referring to the ancient heritage, are also found in the art of classicism. For example, in St. Petersburg, the wrought iron lattice of the Summer Garden and the fence of the 1st Inzhenerny Bridge are decorated with images of the head of Medusa.

Medusa by Caravaggio and Leonardo da Vinci

Ovid's new interpretation of the myth of Medusa Gorgon was approved by subsequent generations of artists who saw human features in the terrible monster. So, for example, Caravaggio depicted the severed head of Medusa with an evil, but still female face, the monster in it is given out only by a chilling look and a nest of writhing snakes on its head (“Medusa”, 1598). However, a picture with a similar image was already painted by another artist - Leonardo da Vinci - who was the first to decide to draw a ball of snakes wrapping around the head of Medusa and gaping their own, ready at any moment to bite, graze, and did it so masterfully that they scared their father. The work of Leonardo da Vinci was stretched over a wooden shield, which his father sold for a substantial sum in Florence. According to legend, the Medici family bought the shield, and when it was lost, the rebellious people drove the all-powerful nobles out of their hometown. Many years later, Cardinal Francesco del Monte ordered Caravaggio to paint exactly the same picture that he presented to Ferdinando I de' Medici in honor of his son's marriage.

Shut up, woman, shut up

In our time, interest in the image of Medusa Gorgon has only intensified - not so long ago, the films Clash of the Titans and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief were released one after another, in which supermodel Natalia Vodianova and actress Uma Thurman played a monster with a deadly look. Reincarnated as a fatal mythical beauty in a joint project with Damien Hirst and outrageous Rihanna, who appeared completely naked in the anniversary issue of the British men's magazine GQ in 2013.

True, not all women voluntarily try on the image of a snake-haired monster. Not of her own free will, Hillary Clinton turned into Medusa Gorgon during the 2016 presidential election. Her opponent Donald Trump is to blame for everything, or, more precisely, his team, who decided to modify the drawing depicting the bronze statue of Perseus by the Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, attaching the head of the future president of America to the body of the ancient Greek hero, who tramples the decapitated monster stretched out under him, using photomontage to the body of the ancient Greek hero. In his hands is the severed head of Medusa with Clinton's frightened face.

It is worth noting that Hillary Clinton is far from the first woman to encroach on the dominance of men, who was portrayed as a snake-haired monster. So, for example, back in 1791, in the engraving Les deux ne font qu’un (“They are both one”), Marie Antoinette appears in the form of a half-beast Medusa.

“Search the name of any famous woman and the word 'Medusa' into a search engine,” suggests English professor Elizabeth Johnston, who teaches a liberal arts course on female icons in popular culture at New York's Monroe College. “And you will see that almost every influential female figure has been photomontaged using snake hair. Martha Stewart, Condoleezza Rice, Madonna, Nancy Pelosi, Oprah Winfrey and Angela Merkel became jellyfish. How to silence all these women businessmen, politicians, activists and artists who disagree with men's opinion? There is only one effective method - to cut off their heads.

Details
Exhibition "Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art"
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Until January 6, 2019

For me, going to the museum took place if I was lucky enough to discover something new. It may be a well-known item from reproductions, which actually looks completely different. Or maybe a work that only here and now attracted attention and changed your idea of ​​an artist.
The Uffizi is not one of my favorite museums. It is difficult to communicate with things in it, there are always crowds of people in it. You go to this museum as if you were going to work, and you come out terribly tired. You can't take pictures. You can understand the latter - if tourists are allowed to take pictures of their loved ones against the backdrop of works, then it will be completely terrible. But exhibitions in the Uffizi know how to do. And at exhibitions, things are revealed better than in the exposition.
The discovery of this year in the Uffizi was Caravaggio's Medusa. Never seen her live before. The anniversary exhibition began with it (Caravaggio died 400 years ago), where the works of the Florentine caravaggists were presented. Meduza was exhibited in a separate room. She did not hang, but lay, since her frightening face adorns a real shield made for Ferdinand, Grand Duke of Tuscany:

And then, at the exhibition, scenes with other severed heads picked up the theme of Medusa: Holofernes, Goliath, John the Baptist, saints. Fortunately, the sea of ​​blood was slightly diluted with feasts and traditional religious stories performed by caravagists.

The picture of Caravaggio produces such a strong effect, since the master depicts the moment when the head has just flown away from the body. Blood is gushing, snakes are moving, it seems that the death cry is still heard.

The transmission of a particular moment was also of interest to Lorenzo Bernini, who carved the head of Medusa in marble. I examined this work every other day in Rome, in the Capitoline Museums:

Bernini's Medusa is still alive, but seems to have a premonition of her terrible fate. The forehead is furrowed, the lips are half open. Like Caravaggio, we see a beautiful woman whose face is distorted by suffering.

It is very likely that the model for Medusa was the sculptor's beloved, Constance Buonarelli, whose portrait is in the Florentine Bargello:

http://www.wga.hu/art/b/bernini/gianlore/sculptur/1630/bonarell.jpg

In the hall next to Bernini's Medusa is the famous Capitoline she-wolf. And this Etruscan neighborhood involuntarily brought to mind the most sympathetic image of Medusa from my student years, which was the antefix of the temple in Veii, and now lives in the Roman Villa Giulia:

The picture in the form of a shield was commissioned to the artist by a cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte as a present Ferdinand, the Grand Duke Tuscan. And it became for "" the "Requiem" that brought Mozart to the grave.

Caravaggio. "Medusa Gorgon". 1599. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
"Portrait" is recognized as the most expressive image of Medusa in the history of world art. No less interesting is that he is the "key" to the creative life of Caravaggio.

Before " Jellyfish"Wrote genre scenes, after it - murders, crucifixions, torment, beheadings ... As if he was dying for a long, long time, unable to avoid the" curse Jellyfish". He died at the age of 37 under unknown circumstances.

Divide creativity into parts -
before and after appearing in his life
snake-haired miracle monster,
The conclusion must come...

Portrait of Caravaggio by Ottavio Leoni, 1621.
Whose curse lies on the brilliant Italian artist - the reformer of European painting of the 17th century, the founder of realism in painting, one of the greatest masters of the Baroque?
Let's be consistent...

Michelangelo Merisi born in 1573, presumably in where his father is an architect Fermo Merisi- was in the service of the duke Francesco Sforza. In 1576, during the plague, the grandfather and father died, and the mother and children returned to their hometown, which became the second name (nickname) of the artist.

A few years later, his mother also died, and Michele found himself among the street boys who fought for life with fists and theft. Somehow, he showed a talent for drawing, and in 1584, a thirteen-year-old teenager was sent to Milan to study with an artist. Simone Peterzano, very popular at the time. As was customary, the maestro forced to paint still lifes and copy. Giulio Mancini- one of the first biographers of Caravaggio - notes that the young man "studied with zeal, but from time to time he committed extravagant acts because of his too unbridled temperament and ardent disposition."

The ball began: artistic talent
and unbridled, quite Italian, temperament.

Caravaggio. "Fruit basket". 1596.
The first still life in the history of Italian painting.
Very "karavadzhievsky" in comparison with just a still life, the task of which is to depict a combination of objects as beautifully as possible ...

Still life: nature morte- dead nature. Karavadzhiev's still life - a dying nature ... The leaves dry up. The grapes are moldy. Apples and pears in wormholes. Here, beauty, if you look closely, is not at all beautiful.

And all because the artist depicts DYING,
FROZEN IN THE INFINITE THEATER PAUSE.
DIE - first appearance of temporary parameters
those that will be developed by the artist during
his entire creative life - short: 17 years.

Caravaggio. "Sick little Bacchus". 1593. Borghese Gallery, Rome.
"Sick Bacchus" is recognized as a self-portrait of Caravaggio. They say they can't
pay for models, the artist painted himself, looking at his reflection in the mirror.

In 1588 he leaves Milan and goes to, and two years later to Rome. Upon arrival, the artist falls ill and spends three months in the hospital between life and death.

Having recovered, the young Caravaggio decides to joke, imagining himself in the form of Bacchus. Pale skin, greenish complexion, weakness of the hand holding a bunch of grapes. On his head is a half-faded wreath, not woven from grape leaves at all. And this is not Bacchus at all, but a mortal dressed up as him.

The artist jokes about the earthly nature of man and thereby tries to rise above it. Life as it is, with its suffering, the weakness of man and his attempts to save himself - this is the theme that will eventually become the leading one in the work of Caravaggio.

Caravaggio. "Young man with a basket of fruit." 1593.
That is a “painting for an easel” (small) with a quiet plot ... The young man seems to be hypnotized, drugged, immersed in melancholy. Behind him are two dark wings...

In Caravaggio enters the workshop of an academic artist Giuseppe Cesari who was nicknamed " Cavalier d'Arpino”and enjoyed the favor of the pope. Cesari's workshop was a kind of gallery, and many aspiring artists acquired clients here. Caravaggio was also quickly noticed. His success was also facilitated by the fact that Roman artists then worked in the style of Michelangelo, preferring to write huge frescoes with religious or historical subjects. The so-called "easel paintings", prized by collectors, were practically non-existent.

The plot of the picture is unchanged: two dark wings behind the young man hint at his fate - melancholy, depression, the fading light of consciousness and ... Enough ..

Caravaggio. "Bacchus". 1596. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
This "Bacchus" is not sick, on the contrary. He is the God who dwells in his world, where he reigns
eternal holiday. Do not rush to conclusions: the picture is full of hoaxes ...

The Light emanating from "Bacchus" drives away the Darkness - and the air vibrates in tension. Need direct evidence? Take a look at the details...

In the glass, the wine moves in circles, leaving concentric traces of its rotation. The mirror of wine in a glass jug is tilted, which means that it - this wine - also goes in circles. What is the reason?

That time of everyday life, simple is transformed
into eternity. Caravaggio conveys the incomprehensible: mystical subtleties? Yes, because he is endowed with SUPERNATURAL POWERS.

The biographer of the artist Baglione said of this painting,
that "the young man seems alive and real."

In 1595, Caravaggio had his own patron - Cardinal Francesco Del Monte: collector of paintings and antiquities, friend Galilee. The artist settled in his palace, and paid for his hospitality with his paintings. The Lute Player was the Cardinal's favorite painting.

Here the state of a person who is inspired and completely devoted to music is perfectly conveyed. Transparent twilight fills the entire room. Contrasts of light and shadow highlight the main moments of the composition and make it possible to sculpt volumes in relief: both the young man's face and objects in the foreground.

This technique, used by Caravaggio,
the researchers named "TENEBROSO".

Caravaggio. "Lute Player". 1595. Hermitage. St. Petersburg.
Fragments of the foreground ...

Perhaps, the "Lute Player" allows us to state not one, but three methods that will become the distinctive properties of Caravaggio's work ... Everything visible is spelled out thoroughly, tactilely (photographically). The environment surrounding the figure (except for the foreground) does not exist at all: it is replaced by a contrast of light and shadow (“tenebroso”). The composition is fragmentary: the frame of the picture seems to cut out a part from the whole, bringing it closer to the viewer. All this allows you to focus not on the action (and it is not here), but on the most subtle feelings of the characters. In this case, melancholy.

Caravaggio. "Musicians". 1595. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Young people are at peace
harmonized with the sounds of the lute. This state is so obvious
that when you look at the picture, the music starts to sound.

The technique of "fragmentation" allows you to give significance to the most ordinary plot. Young people play music. And what of that? They are transformed under the influence of art both internally and even externally. In the background - a self-portrait, recently the former "Little Sick Bacchus", swallowed up by darkness.

Thanks to "tenebroso" - a contrasting combination of Light and Shadow - the effect of tension is created: a kind of light-shadow trembling - vibration that sounds like music.

The musicians are so close to us
that sounds become reality.
My God, how wonderful...

Caravaggio. "Boy bitten by a lizard." 1594-1595. National Gallery, London.

From the melancholic calm evoked by music,
there was no trace left. A simple bite - and so dynamic
deployed figure that seems to hear a cry.

The realism of Caravaggio is something more than a simple imitation of nature. His painting combines a deep understanding of human psychology and an accurate transmission of the nature of light and form, which makes it possible to transform reality into a drama played out on canvas.

Caravaggio. "Boy bitten by a lizard." 1594-1595.
Fragment of the foreground.

How actively the life of the smallest details on the canvas is intense. Fingers are like a running animal. The lizard is dragon-like. Glows and vibrates the water in the vessel. This is hyperrealism...

Caravaggio, as an artist, is fantastically gifted.
There will be something else when the "dark code" will work in full force, keeping the creative tension at an incredible level ...

Caravaggio. "Fortuneteller". 1596 - 1597. Louvre, Paris.
The young man is clearly inexperienced in worldly affairs. Facial expression
and the look of a fortune teller - give out an experienced and prudent lady.
The plot is taken from real life, not inspired by Raphael.

A young man, dressed with a pretense of sophistication, entrusted his right hand to a young gypsy fortune-teller in order to find out his future from a "reliable source." The rake is so carried away by the sensations from the gentle touches of skillful female fingers that he does not notice how they deftly tighten the ring, apparently golden.

Speaking about The Fortune Teller, one of the first biographers notes: “It is unlikely that among the works of this school there was anything done with greater grace and feeling than this gypsy by Caravaggio, predicting happiness to a young man ...”

Caravaggio. "Shulers". 1594. The Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Friends, tirelessly, work - fool the simpletons.

There is a card game. On the left, a young and apparently inexperienced player is carefully examining his cards. Over his shoulder, a middle-aged man is looking at the same place - one of the card sharpers. At the same time, with the fingers of his right hand, he gives a secret sign to his partner, who sits opposite and hides five of worms behind his back. On the left in the foreground in the box rises a column made up of coins - an object of desire for a couple who hunt by deceit.

The figures form a whole similarity of a triangle. This is not an innovation; indeed, the tension inside the triangle, which has no analogues, turns out to be new. And this is just the beginning: there are many compositional achievements ahead ..

Rome with its main dominant - the dome of St. Peter's, floating over the Tiber and the city, which is especially beautiful at night. Rome of the 16th - 17th centuries - “Papal Rome”, where wealth flows from almost all Western Christendom ...

Where did Caravaggio work? I quote from J. A. Wylie's "History of Protestantism" ... "The papacy has become the despot of the world. Emperors and kings obeyed the orders of the pope. It seemed that the earthly and eternal fate of people were in his hands. The Roman clergy enjoyed universal respect and generous rewards. Not only did the people not know the Holy Scripture, but the priests did not understand it either...

“Having removed the law of God as the standard of righteousness, the priests extended their power without limit and were unstoppable in their vicious way of life. Deceit, greed and depravity flourished everywhere. People were not afraid of any crime, if only in this way they could achieve wealth and position. Some of the rulers fell guilty of such egregious crimes that the secular authorities tried to excommunicate them from the church, as the lowest monsters who could no longer be tolerated ...

Midday radiance of papal power
was midnight darkness for the world."

Rome of the 16th-17th centuries was a ruin, among which architectural ruins stood alone, baroque palaces and churches proudly rose up. The ruins are an object of contemplation for tourists. In those centuries they were the dwelling places of the beggars and vagabonds...

Trying to imagine the social composition of Rome, I came to the startling conclusion that nothing is changing ... Below - the common people, above - the aristocrats and the priesthood. In the middle, as anyone is lucky, are service people: doctors, teachers, artists. Fate rules everyone, acting in the form of papal arbitrariness, robberies, epidemics ...

Caravaggio is lucky: he quickly has noble patrons, but ... He himself ruins his happiness, because he finds his heroes among the common people: fishermen, artisans, soldiers - whole people, endowed with strength of character. The churchmen do not forgive this - and a lifelong persecution of a genius who is able to say a new word begins.

The Colosseum (huge, colossal) or the Flavian Amphitheater, built in the 1st century AD. That is a SYMBOL OF TRIUMPHING CRUELTY TURNED INTO A HOLIDAY. During the day the ruins are silent. The nights are filled with the ghosts of the past, the groans of which are terrible ...

Caravaggio succumbs to the miasma emanating from the ruins and becomes the singer of Cruelty? In no case. Gaining skill, he begins to write on mythological, religious subjects, each time unfolding the theme in his own way.

It's safe to say
works of Caravaggio of the Roman period
full of Light in spite of the Darkness surrounding it.
We look ...

According to the color and light solution, this is the most major painting by the artist, in which the artist immerses the heroes of the picture in an idyllic landscape, refusing to use the tenebroso.

The story of how the Holy Family fled from the king Herod who wanted to kill the baby Jesus, is one of the most popular subjects in cult painting of the 17th century.

Here everything is as it should be and not as it should be... The figure of an Angel, standing with his back to the viewer, divides the composition into two parts. On the right, against the backdrop of a landscape painted in "autumn" red-brown tones, Mary is dozing with the Baby in her arms. On the left, Joseph sitting on a bale holds open notes in front of the Angel, while the Angel himself pleases the Holy Family by playing the violin.

Caravaggio. "On the Road to the Egyptian Lands". 1596 - 1597.
It would seem that the picture is a complete rest
genre scene against the backdrop of a paradise landscape, but no ...

Take a closer look at the details: the wings of the Angel on the outside are dark. It cannot be, but it is. So this is a very subtle allegorical device. The present moment is full of inner light — the moment of rest allotted to the Family. What will follow him will be a thickening of the Darkness, bringing the Crucifixion closer ...

Caravaggio. "Magdalene". 1596 - 1597.
The plot testifies: the artist thinks about his life.
Everything bad must be discarded: the main thing is service to art.
How naive are such hopes - what is the main thing that determines Fate ...

Mary Magdalene One of the most revered saints in the Catholic world. In her youth, she was possessed by demons and led a dissolute life. , being in Capernaum and its environs, as usual, the people taught; healed the sick and crippled; cast out demons from those possessed by various mental ailments.

Christ cast out seven demons from Mary Magdalene, who was from a small town located near Capernaum Magdala (hence her nickname - Magdalene). After the healing, Magdalene, along with the apostles and a group of local residents, began to accompany Him, to listen to His sermons. Imbued with the teachings of the Divine Teacher, she in bitter and passionate repentance renounced her former bad life and soon became the most devoted disciple of Jesus Christ.

She was lucky in life.
Others can only hope for something similar ...

Caravaggio. "Martha and Mary". 1598.
A plot on the theme of the same reflections: everything is vanity,
service is that “good part” that justifies everything ...

Plot from gospels from Luke, 10, 38-42. On the way to Jerusalem Jesus Christ stopped in the village Bethany, in the house of a woman named Martha. While Martha prepared the meal, her sister Mary sat down at the feet of Jesus to listen to his instructions. Martha complained that Mary did not help her with household chores, but Jesus objected to her, saying that she fussed about many things, and Mary "choose the good part, which will not be taken away from her."

It means… An eventful, vain life is one thing: everything is permitted in it. Following the instructions of the Teacher, who speaks to you inaudibly for others, is that Light that will drive away any darkness, that flower that will certainly rise in the Garden.

Caravaggio. "St. Catherine of Alexandria". 1598.
The painting was commissioned by Cardinal del Monte.
It seems that the image of Catherine is significant for Caravaggio
in the Saint's commitment to the New Faith...

Leaning on a wheel with sharp spikes, posing as a cartwheel, sits a sweet, serious girl in a strict light-dark robe. She carefully looks at something that she sees in Eternity. At the feet is a scarlet brocade pillow, on which a bundle of twigs is thrown. The dark robe is alive: like a wave, it is preparing to cover her. It is unlikely that any of the spectators can imagine that literally in a moment Catherine of Alexandria will be subjected to the most severe torture.

For what? For a new faith that will turn it
to the Holy Great Martyr...

Caravaggio. "Narcissus at the brook". 1599. National Gallery of Ancient Art, Rome. The young man looks at the reflection in the eyes.
He sees not Beauty - Darkness beyond the mirror, beyond.
Darkness and Light form a Circle from which there is no way out.

Caravaggio paints a picture on a plot from ancient Greek mythology. Narcissus is a handsome young man, a favorite of nymphs, a hunter. Once, during a hunt, he saw his reflection in the water, fell in love with himself, could not part with the reflection and died of hunger and suffering. They searched for the young man, they did not find the body, but in the place where it was, a flower grew, which was named after the young man - Narcissus. The naiad sisters mourned him.

Caravaggio. "Narcissus at the brook". 1599. Fragments.

According to Caravaggio, there is no talk of beauty and falling in love with oneself. Only about the ENLIGHTENMENT that arises if you look into your own eyes for a long, long time in the hope of seeing something bright. It fails, look - do not look, only blackness in the mirror of water appears.

What pessimism? Mortal.
It's like someone's curse is coming true...
Whose? The time has come!

Caravaggio. "Jellyfish". 1599. Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
The painting is recognized in the most significant way
Gorgon Medusa in the history of world painting.

I saw ““... More precisely, I heard her Scream, the sound of blood pouring from her throat, the hissing of snake-hair ... Having heard all this, it was impossible to turn around and leave. I forced myself to look into her face. When the grimace of deathly Horror began to leave, the face became beautiful and from this even more terrible.

The one who saw " ", I think,
connected with Caravaggio by indissoluble bonds.
And with a miracle-monster, too ...

The face of Medusa expresses the ultimate state of Horror,
suddenly engulfed her. Deafeningly screaming head
hypnotizes not so much with a look as with sounding Horror.

It is impossible to imagine, but the artist who painted this image must have been in a state of Horror for several years. Should have been, if the artist is Caravaggio.

This means that the image is firmly, firmly connected with his personal experiences, which cannot be got rid of, they are so painful. Such experiences could not help but be the CURSE that defined his artistic genius.

HE HEARED THE HISSTING OF SNAKE IN HIS HIS HEAD
AND HAD TO STOP IT SOMETHING.
This is madness? This is genius
which is borderline
with everything that is normal.

Caravaggio. "Jellyfish". 1599. Fragment.
The artist heard the hissing of snakes in his head and had to stop it or remove the CURSE imposed by nature.
This is madness? This is the ultimate state of genius.

Caravaggio could not write liquid apples -
they were all with a wormhole, rottenness.
His genre scenes convey the finest feelings,
that raise them to the level of allegories.
The intense struggle of Light and Shadow,
invented by him - a method that allows
develop one theme: SELF-CLEANING.
Therefore, for those who feel "spiritual currents",
coming from his paintings, the artist becomes
source of SELF-KNOWLEDGE - UNDERSTANDING
OF YOUR OWN INSIDE WORLD.

The creative life of Caravaggio is divided
the fate of the artist into three parts.
We survived the beginning. Is there something ahead?

Sylvester Shchedrin. Rome. 1819.
Tiber. Angel's Castle (Hadrian's Mausoleum). Silhouette. Cathedral of St. Peter.

Medusa Gorgon. 1598-1599. Uffizi Gallery. Florence.

A few words about the author of the painting. Life of Michelangelo Caravaggio 1571-1610. She was full of adventures. He was very fond of gambling and often got into fights. For which he was persecuted. In painting, he acted as a bold innovator. His art was democratic and realistic.

The heroes of Caravaggio are street vendors, musicians, simple-minded dandies, people from the street. These bright characters, flooded with bright light, are brought close to the viewer, depicted with emphasized monumentality and plastic tangibility.

Caravaggio's devotion to realism sometimes went very far. Such an extreme case is the story of the creation of the painting "The Resurrection of Lazarus." As we know from the Bible, this happened on the third day after the burial.

To achieve reliability, Caravaggio ordered two hired workers to dig up the recently buried body and hold it while he paints. Unable to withstand the terrible smell, the workers threw the corpse and wanted to run away. But Caravaggio, threatening them with a knife, forced them to continue holding the corpse until he finished drawing .

ABOUT PICTURE

Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte ordered the painting to the artist, intending to present it as a gift (original shield) to Ferdinand, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Legends of the Gorgons.

Gorgons are female monsters in Greek mythology. Homer in the Iliad tells that the head of the Gorgon is on the auspices of Zeus, and in the Odyssey the Gorgons are presented as the monsters of the underworld of Hades.

Both Homer and Euripides, according to whose story the Gorgon was born by the earth and killed by the goddess Athena, we are talking about one Gorgon; meanwhile, Hesiod has three of them, living across the ocean in the west.

Later writers (Herodotus and others) refer to the stay of the Gorgons in Libya and adjacent African lands.

Gorgons are represented as winged creatures with a disproportionately large head, protruding tongue, bared teeth, and often with snakes on their heads or torsos.

Of these, Medusa, who is mostly called simply the Gorgon, was the most terrible. She alone was mortal, which is why Perseus could cut off her head.

According to the version, she was a girl with beautiful hair, and wanted to compete with Athena in beauty. And she won this impromptu duel, since it was she who was preferred by the god Poseidon. Poseidon took possession of her in the temple of Athena, where Medusa rushed in search of protection. The vengeful Athena not only did not help her, but also turned her hair into hydras.Poseidon seduced Medusa.From her blood, fertilized by Poseidon (before the deadly blow of Perseus), the winged horse Pegasus was born.

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini Head of Medusa Gorgon

Medusa's head petrified everyone who looked at it or touched it.

The blood that flowed from the left side of the head brought death, and from the right side it revived people.

The fine arts for a long time depicted her in a disgusting form, but later, after Pindar, in whom she is represented beautiful, the artists began to depict her beautiful, although awe-inspiring, usually with wings above her temples and snakes in her hair.

Outwardly, the terrible monster depicted by artists in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance was gradually replaced by images of a terrible expression of a beautiful face.

Many artists and sculptors have captured Medusa in their paintings and sculptures. But Caravaggio's Medusa is considered the best work.

"Perseus with the Head of the Gorgon" by Benvenuto Cellini 1571-1610

Rubens. Head of Medusa Gorgon. 1617-1618.

According to the rationalistic interpretation, she was the daughter of Fork and reigned over the people at the lake of Trinodides, led the Libyans to war, But was treacherously killed at night.

The Carthaginian writer Proclus calls her a woman from the Libyan desert. According to another interpretation, she was a hetero, fell in love with Perseus and spent her youth and fortune.

There are many legends about the Gorgon Medusa. In Slavic legends, she turned into a maiden with hair in the form of snakes, the maiden Gorgonia. Also in the Slavic apocrypha, the Gorgonian beast, protecting paradise from people after the fall.

In the novel "Alexandria" Alexander the Great takes possession of his head. This explains his numerous victories.

The head of the Gorgon Medusa as an emblem. For example, the island of Sicily is traditionally considered the place where the Gorgons lived and Medusa was killed. Her image still adorns the flag of this region.

Which image of the Gorgon did you like more than Rubens or Caravaggio?