← x | xi → ILLUSTRATIONS
1.Ottavio Leoni, Portrait of Caravaggio, ca. 1614, chalk on blue paper. Biblioteca Marucelliana, Florence. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
2.Anonymous, San Carlo Borromeo, seventeenth century, oil on canvas. San Carlone, Arona. Photo: Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY.
3.Bonaventura Berlinghieri, Saint Francis altarpiece, 1235, tempera on panel. San Francesco, Pescia. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
4.Fra Angelico, Descent from the Cross, 1430–34, tempera on panel. Museo di San Marco, Florence. Photo: Alfredo Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY.
5.Giovanni Bellini, The Resurrection of Christ, ca. 1475–78, oil on panel transferred to canvas. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. Photo: bpk, Berlin/Gemäldegalerie/Joerg P. Anders/Art Resource, NY.
6.Raphael Sanzio, Entombment, 1507, oil on panel. Galleria Borghese, Rome. Photo: Scala/Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali/Art Resource, NY.
7.Antonello da Messina, Christ at the Column, ca. 1476, oil on panel. Musée du Louvre, Paris. © RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY.
← xi | xii → 8.Andrea Mantegna, Presentation in the Temple, ca. 1460, oil on panel. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. Photo: bpk, Berlin/Gemäldegalerie/Joerg P. Anders/Art Resource, NY.
9.Sandro Botticelli, The Dead Christ Mourned, 1495–1500, tempera on panel. Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan. Photo: Mondadori Portfolio/Electa/Art Resource, NY.
10.Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Entombment, ca. 1500, tempera on panel. National Gallery, London. © National Gallery, London/Art Resource, NY.
11.Jacopo da Pontormo, Descent from the Cross, ca. 1525, oil on panel. Capponi Chapel, Santa Felicita, Florence. Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
12.Leonardo da Vinci, Lady with an Ermine, ca. 1490, oil on panel. Czartoryski, Museum, Kraków. Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
13.Gaudenzio Ferrari, Chapel of the Crucifixion, ca. 1515–20, polychrome terra-cotta and fresco. Chapel 38, Sacro Monte di Varallo. Photo: Marco Riccardo and Paolo Gonella/Archivio Riserva Speciale Sacro Monte di Varallo.
14.Girolamo Romanino, Christ Carrying the Cross, 1542, oil on canvas. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. Photo: Mondadori Portfolio/Electa/Art Resource, NY.
15.Leonardo da Vinci, Head and Shoulders of Christ, ca. 1490, pen and ink drawing. Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice. Photo: Cameraphoto Arte, Venice/Art Resource, NY.
16.Giovanni Battista della Rovere (il Fiammenghino), San Carlo in Procession with the Sacred Nail, 1602–3, tempera on canvas. Duomo, Milan. Copyright © Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano.
17.Giovanni Battista Crespi (il Cerano), San Carlo Borromeo Consoles Plague Victims, 1601–2, oil on canvas. Duomo, Milan. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
18.Antonio Campi, Scenes from the Passion, 1569, oil on canvas. Musée du Louvre, Paris. © RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY.
19.Antonio Campi, Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, 1581, oil on canvas. San Paolo Converso, Milan. Photo: Mondadori Portfolio/Electa/Art Resource, NY.
← xii | xiii → 20.Giovanni Battista Crespi (il Cerano), San Carlo Borromeo Praying before the “Dead Christ” at Varallo, ca. 1610, oil on canvas. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. © Museo Nacional del Prado/Art Resource, NY.
21.Simone Peterzano, Entombment, 1573–78, oil on canvas. San Fedele, Milan. Photo: Mondadori Portfolio/Electa/Art Resource, NY.
22.Giovanni Battista della Rovere (il Fiammenghino), San Carlo Preparing for Death at the Sacro Monte di Varallo, 1602–3, tempera on canvas. Duomo, Milan. Copyright © Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano.
23.Anonymous, Funeral of San Carlo Borromeo, 1584, oil on canvas. San Carlone, Arona. Photo: Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY.
24.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, 1594, oil on canvas. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, 1943.222. Photo: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT.
25.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes, ca. 1598, oil on canvas. Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome. Photo: Scala/Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali/Art Resource, NY.
26.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Penitent Magdalen, ca. 1594, oil on canvas. Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome. Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY.
27.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Rest on the Flight into Egypt, ca. 1594, oil on canvas. Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome. Photo: HIP/Art Resource, NY.
28.Federico Barocci, Rest on the Flight into Egypt, 1570, oil on canvas. Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
29.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1603, oil on canvas. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
← xiii | xiv → 30.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Calling of Saint Matthew, 1599–1600, oil on canvas. Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
31.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Martyrdom of Saint Matthew, 1599–1600, oil on canvas. Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
32.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Saint Matthew and the Angel (first version), ca. 1602, oil on canvas. Formerly Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin, destroyed. Photo: bpk, Berlin/Gemäldegalerie/Art Resource, NY.
33.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Inspiration of Saint Matthew (second version), 1602, oil on canvas. Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome. Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
34.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, detail of self-portrait, Martyrdom of Saint Matthew, 1599–1600, oil on canvas. Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
35.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Conversion of Saint Paul, 1600–1601, oil on canvas. Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
36.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Crucifixion of Saint Peter, 1600–1601, oil on canvas. Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
37.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Entombment, 1602, oil on canvas. Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
38.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Madonna di Loreto, 1603, oil on canvas. Cavalletti Chapel, Sant’Agostino, Rome. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
39.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Death of the Virgin, 1605–6, oil on canvas. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
40.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Madonna dei Palafrenieri, 1606, oil on canvas. Galleria Borghese, Rome. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
← xiv | xv → 41.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus, 1601, oil on canvas. National Gallery, London. © National Gallery, London/Art Resource, NY.
42.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Taking of Christ, 1602, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Ireland and the Jesuit Community of Leeson Street, Dublin, who acknowledge the generosity of the late Dr. Marie Lea-Wilson. Photo © National Gallery of Ireland.
43.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Incredulity of Saint Thomas, ca. 1603, oil on canvas. Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam. Photo: bpk, Berlin/Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg/Gerhard Murza/Art Resource, NY.
44.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Crowning with Thorns, ca. 1604, oil on canvas. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
45.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness, ca. 1604, oil on canvas. Nelson–Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City. Photo: Nimatallah/Art Resource, NY.
46.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Saint Jerome Writing, 1606, oil on canvas. Galleria Borghese, Rome. Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY.
47.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Saint Francis in Prayer, 1603–4, oil on canvas. Museo Civico, Cremona. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
48.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Saint Francis in Meditation, 1606, oil on canvas. Church of San Pietro, Carpineto Romano (in deposit at Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome). Photo: Scala/Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali/Art Resource, NY.
49.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus, 1606, oil on canvas. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. Photo: Scala/Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali/Art Resource, NY.
50.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Seven Acts of Mercy, ca. 1607, oil on canvas. Pio Monte della Misericordia, Naples. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
← xv | xvi → 51.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, 1608, oil on canvas. Saint John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta. Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY.
52.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, detail of Caravaggio’s signature, Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, 1608, oil on canvas. Saint John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
53.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Raising of Lazarus, 1608–9, oil on canvas. Museo Regionale, Messina. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
54.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, 1610, oil on canvas. Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano, Naples. Photo: Mondadori Portfolio/Electa/Art Resource, NY.
55.Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, David with the Head of Goliath, 1610, oil on canvas. Galleria Borghese, Rome. Photo: Scala/Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali/Art Resource, NY.
56.Giovanni Battista Crespi (il Cerano), San Carlo in Glory, 1615, oil on canvas. San Gottardo in Corte, Milan. Photo: Mondadori Portfolio/Electa/Art Resource, NY.
← xvi | xvii → ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is the result of many years of research and of rethinking the nature and origins of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s sacred style. I began research shortly after completing my dissertation on Caravaggio and Counter-Reformation style at Temple University in 2009. I was privileged to spend a summer in Rome on a 2013 Research Fellowship through the Office of Research at Old Dominion University, during which time the bulk of my book was written.
The majority of the copyediting took place between November 2013 and March 2014 thanks to the extraordinary talents of Michael Gnat. His meticulousness, patience, and humor are unequaled, and I cannot thank him enough. Several colleagues and friends graciously read the manuscript and made crucial recommendations that helped me reshape the book. I would like to thank especially Marcia B. Hall and Robert Wojtowicz for devoting so much time and care in reading my manuscript at various stages of its development.
Many offices and institutions enabled my research and the completion of the book, which include: the Archivio Segreto Vaticano, the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, and the staff at the Interlibrary Loan office at Old Dominion University. In finding and securing images I was assisted by the remarkable efforts of Liz Kurtulik Mercuri and Michael Slade at Art Resource ← xvii | xviii → in New York; by Stacey Stachow at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art; by Sinéad Farrelly at the National Gallery of Ireland; Stefano Aietti at the Archivio Riserva Speciale Sacro Monte di Varallo; and Roberto Fighetti at the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano. I especially thank Charles Wilson, Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Old Dominion University, for subsidizing a substantial portion of the costs for these images, and Nancy Shelton, for her time and expertise in preparing my images for publication.
I would also like to thank these colleagues and friends for their help and support: Fred Bayersdorfer, Elizabeth Bolman, Heather Bryant, Andrew Casper, Tracy Cooper, Ken Daley, Dianne deBeixedon, Kenneth FitzGerald, Susan Langworthy, Rose May, Linda McGreevy, Greta Pratt, and Gerald Silk. I especially thank my current and former students at Old Dominion University who collectively cheered me on as I neared the completion of the book. Among these students, I would like to thank, in particular, Kymberly Cardullo, Elizabeth Duntemann, Abigail Johnson, and Bianca Rawlings.
Special gratitude must go to Michelle Salyga, Acquisitions Editor at Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., whose professionalism, kindness, and support are unparalleled. I would be remiss if I did not thank my family who have always believed in me and supported me in all my endeavors: my parents, Walter and Yoshiko Muraoka; my sisters, Joanne E. Jantson and Dianne A. Muraoka; and my brother-in-law, John A. Jantson. Finally, I must give a special note of gratitude to Matthew Mankus, who has stood by my side through the last seven years.
← xviii | 1 → INTRODUCTION
Saint Matthew was once Levi the tax collector. Saint Paul was once Saul the persecutor of Christians. Saint Mary Magdalene was a former prostitute. These are only some of the saints whose lives are recalled in the Gospels and hagiographic texts, people who turned their lives around, converted, and became disciples of Christ. Their conversions seemed instantaneous and miraculous—a gesture, a flash of light, a few spoken words—and then they were followers of Christ, paving their way to sainthood. But how realistic are these stories to an uneducated and poor Christian? How can one relate to an exceptional story depicted in an exceptional, otherworldly manner? It was for the eyes and salvation of the illiterate and poor Christian populace that the Council of Trent directed its attention to the veneration of sacred images, defining their purpose in a well-known 1563 decree. Sacred images not only needed to serve as memory aids and as Bibles for the illiterate, but also needed to touch and move the emotions of the viewer in a profound way. At the turn of the seventeenth century in Rome, one artist in particular fulfilled these objectives: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Fig. 1).
The sacred works of Caravaggio have long been under scrutiny. Many regard Caravaggio’s sacred works as expressions of Counter-Reformation ideology by drawing parallels between the artist’s images and his Roman exposure to ← 1 | 2 → the humility of the Oratorians, the Spiritual Exercises of the Jesuits, and the Augustinian light of grace. Although these connections have been accepted in part or collectively by many scholars as a Counter-Reformation phenomenon that worked in concert to influence Caravaggio’s formulation of sacred style, the evidence seems inadequate. Why would a strong-willed, belligerent, and independent young artist—as his biographers describe him—suddenly be moved by the Catholic rhetoric on images? The objective of this book is to provide some answers to this important question.
