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The Two Michelangelos: Postscript – Another Contarelli Chapel Commission

February 26, 2014 Uncategorized Comments Off on The Two Michelangelos: Postscript – Another Contarelli Chapel Commission 991

Caravaggio was contracted for two side paintings in the Contarelli chapel, those we have looked at in the last three posts. The project was finished and installed in 8 months. For the front wall of the chapel, the Flemish sculptor Jacob Cobaert was commissioned to complete a “St. Matthew and the Angel” which was rejected for unknown reasons a short while after being installed. The sculpture ended up in Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini in Rome.

The church turned once again to Caravaggio, asking him to complete a painting for the space. Caravaggio produced this work:

The church rejected this painting as well and if we take a closer look it is easy to understand why. The angel is guiding St. Matthew’s hand which, combined with the look on his face, makes him look rather like a simpleton. In addition, the position of the Saint’s dirty left foot puts it precariously close to the eucharist when it is raised during the liturgy. The painting eventually ended up in the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum in Berlin and was destroyed by American bombing in World War II.

Caravaggio, being the consummate professional that he was, painted a second version that remains in the chapel to this day:

For amazing hi-res images of the paintings in the Chapel visit: Contarelli Chapel hi-res pics.

And an interesting documentary on how they produced the above images: Caravaggio, creating three facsimiles.

The Two Michelangelos Part 2

February 10, 2014 Uncategorized Comments Off on The Two Michelangelos Part 2 735

This is the “Martyrdom of St. Matthew” from the Contarelli Chapel in San Luigi Francesi in Rome.

Caravaggio’s version of the martyrdom was inspired by the Golden
Legend . Matthew was murdered while celebrating mass in the Ethiopian city of Nadaber. He had refused to marry the King Hirtacua to Ephigenia, a consecrated virgin. Upset at this, the King sent an assassin to kill the saint.

The white vestments of Matthew set against the dark background bring our attention to the center of the painting, as the assassin stands over the saint, about to
kill him. At left we see a group of young men (including Carvaggio’s self portrait at the back) dressed in contemporary
17th C clothing (as in the “Calling”). This group could be the faithful who, upon witnessing the
murder, ran to light fire to the kings palace. On the right is the altar
boy running away from the scene while just behind him is the altar. The bottom group is somewhat confusing as it seems the figures are
distorted and/or limbless. Could this refer to the cripples that St. Matthew was
known for healing? The strange space they are in may be a reference to the Pool of Bethedusa – a healing
pool in Jerusalem mentioned in St. John’s Gospel.

It is the grouping of St Matthew and the assassin that is most interesting. Once again Caravaggio references Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, using the body of
Adam in the place of the assassin. Below I have photoshopped Adam next to the assassin to demonstrate the similarity:

This assassin is Adam up right, on his feet. Adam who has become
sinner and been exiled from Paradise. The assassin/Adam grabs the hand of Matthew,
trying to block contact with the palm of martyrdom being offered to him by the
angel above. Adam here is an image of arrogance in contrast to the redemptive power offered to Matthew. It is sin that prevents us from receiving the grace of God. In this grouping Caravaggio represents the complex rapport between human and divine.

With “The Calling of St. Matthew”, the hand of Adam became the
hand of Christ that calls Matthew. In “The Martyrdom”, the body of Adam just created becomes the arrogant body of the assassin of St. Matthew. The angel above Matthew is one of the angles from the flight of the angels within God the
Divine Creator.

In the next post we will see how Caravaggio continues to reference the Sistine Chapel in his painting of “Supper at Emmaus”

The Two Michelangelos Part 1

February 6, 2014 Uncategorized Comments (1) 771

Michelangelo
Buonarotti and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio that is.

Caravaggio, like
any master, understood art history and was able to play with the language
of art to make complex theological statements. A continual source for him was
Michelangelo and we find Caravaggio quoting the great master in many of his
paintings.

In the Contarelli
Chapel (1599 – 1600) in San Luigi Francesi in Rome, Caravaggio was granted his
first major commission. On
his death in 1585 the French cardinal, Matthieu Cointerel (Contarelli in
Italian) had left a large sum of money and instructions for a chapel to be
dedicated to his patron saint, St. Matthew. Caravaggio completed the commissions on canvas, something unheard of for large murals at that
time which were usually executed in fresco. Three large painting were finished in 8 months.

In the first painting, “The Calling Of St Matthew”, we see Christ calling Matthew, aka Levi, as described in Matthew 9.9: “And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, follow me. And he arose, and followed him.”

Caravaggio gives Christ the hand of Adam from the Sistine Chapel’s “Creation of Man”, signalling the similarity between God and man and the human nature of Christ: Christ is the new Adam. Notice also how Peter, the first pope, echoes the gesture, describing how the Church continues the work of Christ.

Matthew and his colleagues are dressed in clothing contemporary to Caravaggio, from the early 17th C, while Christ and Peter are dressed in what would be early 1st
C wear. This emphasizes that Christ’s call is eternal, for all people
of all ages.

Caravaggio was the perfect counter-reformation painter. A complicated individual but entirely professional and profound in his work. In the next post we
will look at the complex and interesting theology presented by
Caravaggio in a second painting in the chapel, “The Martyrdom of St. Matthew”.

Blood Pudding

January 7, 2014 Uncategorized Comments Off on Blood Pudding 684

While in high school in the 80’s, my friends and I used to make Super 8 movies to keep ourselves busy outside of school. They were actually the brainchild of my best pal Paul, who had aspirations of being the next George Lucas. In the 90’s Paul went on to a make some fine features but earlier, circa 1992, he had come across some black and white 8 mm film and had an idea for short he wanted me to star in. I was, at the time, in my “artist” phase, sporting long hair and a beard, apparently the perfect look for the homeless lad whom this movie is about. So, using all our old high school pals and locations we had easy access to, we shot this little film over a couple weekends. Paul entered it in the 1st Annual Calgary Independent Film Festival and we got a nice review on the CBC, something about the film being ‘a profound statement on modern life’. I won the best actor award.

Ladies and Gents, Blood Pudding.

Lords in Sydney

December 16, 2013 Uncategorized Comments Off on Lords in Sydney 679

The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney has a fabulous collection of 19th Century art, among them a number of Leightons.

Winding the skein

The paintings filled the space, displayed like a 19th century salon. Photos turned out blurry so I shot some video:

The website of the AGNSW has excellent pics of the collection, many hi-res. Worth taking a look:

19th Century Collection.

Wedded

“My Story” by Annigoni ( or how I found Annigoni Down Under)

December 13, 2013 Uncategorized Comments Off on “My Story” by Annigoni ( or how I found Annigoni Down Under) 682

“It is a story filled with beauty, happiness and tears, which every man and woman will be moved to read.”

While in Australia I had a couple of run-ins with Pietro Annigoni. Annigoni, for those who do not know, was the Italian oil and fresco painter who became famous after painting Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait in 1956. John Angel, my maestro in Florence was a student of Annigoni’s, so Annigoni is sort of my artistic grandfather.
While browsing the stacks at an used book store in Sydney I came across this:

It just seemed kind of random, this faded print in the cheap wood frame among three floors of novels, bios, text books and art books. I had never seen an Annigoni print outside of Italy. I wondered who put it up. It seemed to have been there a while.

Earlier in the month, during the final days of my Tasmanian workshop, one of my models had purchased an old suitcase at the local market in Launceston. Inside were an number of magazines and among them I noticed this image:

Inside was a centerfold of the portrait of Princess Margaret:

What I had overlooked however, was the story that went with the image. Titled “My Story”, Annigoni tells his life story. Here are the pages for you to read:

Unfortunately I have not yet found the next issue so we can not finish reading his story. Instead I leave you with this old clip on Annigoni and the portrait of Princess Margaret.

Demo Down Under

November 26, 2013 Uncategorized Comments (1) 799

This past Saturday afternoon I did an alla-prima portrait demo at Leoni Duff Studios in downtown Launceston. For students in my workshop and the public, the idea was to show the steps in the completion of a portrait collapsed into a couple of hours. Leoni’s husband Alan was kind enough to offer his handsome face for me to paint.

The following progress shots were taken at various points over 2.5 hours:

Setting proportions

Wash drawing

Beginning colour lay-in

Setting background colour

Modelling planes

Adding smaller forms

Fixing shapes

Completed portrait –

One can always use just one more sitting

Above pics by Lynne Davies, Darren Day and Joanne Mitchelson – Thanks!

Some press coverage from the Launceston Examiner, Nov. 24 2013.

Off the Coast Podcast

August 13, 2013 Uncategorized Comments (1) 659

Early in July I recorded some audio
with an old pal from Florence, Matt Collins. Matt is an amazing artist and one of the head instructors at Cecil Studios in Florence. Take a look at his site here:
Matt Collins website.

I decided to play around a little to try and get an idea of how hard it would be and how much time it would take to do a podcast. It took the whole day (not including the conversation) and was not that difficult. There is plenty of free online help: Top 5 pieces of free podcasting software.

The podcast is far from professional, nor complete, but the process has been fun. To listen now, click on the audio player on the top right.
You can also download the mp3 here: Off the Coast Podcast 13/08/13 – Matt Collins

The music I used was was free, from Opsound.org. Intro piece: Inhale Part 2 by Peter Rudenko
Closing piece: Lost On Corners by The Orchestral Movement of 1932

Ravenna

August 1, 2013 Uncategorized Comments Off on Ravenna 688

Ravenna was the western center of the Christendom when the seat of Rome was transfered to Constantinople. As a result, several beautiful churches and basilicas were built in the 5th and 6th century and decorated with mosaics which exist today in excellent shape. Ravenna is a great day trip from Florence with a direct train at 7:30 am that gets you in by 10 am, costing around 11 euro each way. From the train station it is a short walk to the center and the main attractions of the city.

San Vitale – 526 AD – one of the most important examples of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture in western Europe.

The Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo – 561 AD

Mosaic of the greatest saint ever: Saint Martino!

The Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare in Classe – 549AD – is
described as “an outstanding example of the early Christian basilica
in its purity and simplicity of its design and use of space and in the
sumptuous nature of its decoration”. The basilica is a 15 minute bus ride
from Ravenna and is situated in what used to be Classe, the main port on the
Adriatic founded by Augustus Cesar around 20 BC. Today the basilica is found
isolated surrounded by fields of sunflowers. a stunning contrast of nature and
architecture.

For more info: Ravenna Tourism

Taking a Leap

July 31, 2013 Uncategorized Comments Off on Taking a Leap 617

“Quitting my day job and starting my life as a writer was a
tremendous risk. It was a fool’s leap, a shot in the dark. But anything of any
value in our lives, whether that be a career, work of art, a relationship, will
always start with such a leap. And in order to be able to make it you have to
put aside the fear of failing and the desire of succeeding. You have to do
these things completely purely, without fear, without desire. Because things
that we do without lust or result are the purest actions we shall ever take” – Alan Moore

Drawing of Alan Moore by Frank Quitely

Alan Moore was the writer of some of the best comic book fiction ever and he has an interesting life story. Check out this video for more.

Artist and Educator