I had a wonderful 24 hours seeking out Caravaggio in Rome. I loved just taking time to notice the works and look carefully - inspired by Katy Hessel to take notes as I looked.
I saw five works in total. First of all the Pilgrim’s Madonna in the Basilica of St Augustine, which is in a dark corner that you need to pay 2 euros to illuminate for 3 minutes. I only realised this when someone did it for us. Then we had the challenge of getting some Euro coins of our own, which involved buying post cards from a priest who was busy sweeping the church floor. It was worth it. Then we went to see Judith and Holofernes, 1598-99 in the Palazzo Barberini. The following morning, while Tim was working, I was able to get to the Contarelli Chapel in the San Luigi deli Francesci where I could really enjoy time studying three paintings by Caravaggio. All of which feature St Matthew. I wrote detailed notes about what I saw in all of them, but I’ve been thinking about what I learnt across these five, that I can use when making my own pictures. There are still many more to take in on a future trip.
1. Lighting.
This is the most obvious characteristic of the paintings that I love and aim to emulate. The light often comes from the top left, but sometimes from the top right. The most surprising to me was that in the Calling of St Matthew, the light looks like it’s coming from the window when in fact it is also coming from behind St Peter - i.e. right and a bit lower down. Apparently, this symbolises the light of God.
2. Colour.
I really noticed through careful looking how Caravaggio liked to dress people in strong coloured robes, or drape them with cloths, or hang cloths behind in reds, greens, yellows and browns. Blue in case of Mary’s skirt. These colours are often lost in reproductions but added to the richness in real life.
3. Posture, pose, gesture and hands.
It is said that Caravaggio found his subjects on the street and asked them to pose for him. I love the gestures that he asks them to make. Often wide armed to take up more space, or linked with others, creating a cohesive whole and mid action, about to stand up, or point, or chop off a head. The poses are often dynamic. St Matthew doesn’t sit down to write notes given him by the angel, but half kneels on a bench, his pen raised. Judith is on the point of beheading Holofernes. The man sitting in front of St Matthew sits astride a bench and pushes himself, as if to get up.
I was really struck by Caravaggio’s treatment of hands. I didn’t notice any that were half hidden and often they were doing really interesting things like the angel dictating to St Matthew, or the tax collector counting money. I also love the parallel between Jesus’s pointing hand in the Calling of St Matthew and St Peter’s echoing of it (both of them in turn echoing Adam in the Sistine Chapel.) And then St Matthew’s hand as he is lying, dying later, maybe pointing at us.
4. Expression.
Caravaggio’s works include a wide range of expressions. Not just straight faced to the camera, although mostly without teeth showing. I saw surprise, disgust, horror, puzzlement, despair, and more on the faces of his subjects. Caravaggio really does a great job at capturing human emotion.
5. Narrative quality
Each of the pictures really manages to tell a story and the emotions displayed are relatable today, even if some of the settings feel extreme to our eyes. St Matthew points at himself with a surprised expression as Jesus points at him. Can’t we all related to the feeling of “who me?”? In St Matthew the Evangelist he has the quizzical look of someone having to take orders from someone of potentially questionable authority. Judith and her maid’s look of utter disgust at the beheading of Holofernes, could be transferred to a modern setting. The tax collectors who continue counting while Jesus selects one of their number, just remind me of folks with their phones today, oblivious to what’s happening around them. What is the expression which Mary looks on the pilgrims with? Pity? Haughtiness? Solemnity? The despairing face of Caravaggio in the background of the Martyrdom of St Matthew is really striking. Who hasn’t looked on a situation that is out of their hands and felt a similar despair?
6. Framing.
The compositions really fill the canvas, you feel like part of the action when you’re looking. I want to experiment more with creating that effect in camera. Either with a different lens or by photographing each subject individually and using Photoshop in the way I did for the Trinity Dining Room shoot.
The pictures in Rome were framed in marble, red or gold coloured or framed in gold which seems to set off the images with this colour palate nicely. I’m feeling totally inspired and loved this visit.