But it was Tintoretto’s ability to synthesise multiple expressions within a single painting, thus bringing out the innermost feelings of the characters, which was very much the unifying element in his work that Caravaggio admiringly sought to adopt. The Milanese artist’s talent for three-dimensional modelling never tempted him, however, into the exciting narrative elements that the Venetian artist had so remarkably mastered.

      We may assume that, after leaving the Lombard capital, Caravaggio was in Venice around 1585. Although we cannot know for certain when he arrived in the city, there is no doubt that the death of his mother around that time would have strengthened his resolve to leave Milan. The artistic influence that Milan had on him was later assessed as central to his subsequent artistic development.[19] According to Baglione, Federigo Zucchero made a comment about Caravaggio’s work to which we owe the certain indication that, in reality, it was Giorgio Barbarelli, known as Giorgione, under whose spell the young artist fell. “I cannot look at them without seeing the influence of Giorgione”, commented the well-known mannerist of the Roman School about Caravaggio’s paintings in San Luigi dei Francesi,[20] a judgement that did not really fit the works criticised, as they had already overcome the Venetian influence and displayed Caravaggio’s own characteristic style. In Roman artists’ circles at that time it was believed that Caravaggio had close links to Venice. From this period, the young and susceptible artist indulged in the magic of Venetian painting, which was then at its peak. The painters of the time most admired by Caravaggio were attempting to characterise their subjects better by creating works of large dimensions on a restrained background. One thinks particularly of Giorgione’s portraits of men in Berlin and Brunswick,[21] and of the portrait of a young man by Torbido at the Pinakothek in Munich.[22] Caravaggio’s own canvases reached almost gigantic proportions, beyond the works of Torbido and Giorgione. The idea of pure contemplation of the subject, which the Venetian artists preferred, was in this way surpassed by Caravaggio.

      According to Eisenmann, there is a painting of the biblical Judith from Caravaggio’s Venetian period, formerly in the La Motta Collection in the Treviso region, which is now said to be in English private possession. Waagen, who otherwise conveys a precise knowledge of these collections, does not mention the painting. There is one work depicting Judith and Holofernes, painted around 1598–1599, that can be found today in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome. According to Baglione, Caravaggio may have painted another of the same subject for the Signori Costi in Rome. It is difficult to judge whether he is referring to the same work, but there is nevertheless another depiction of Judith, painted several years later in 1607, that is currently in Naples. It seems likely that Baglione was referring to a copy.

      Departure for Rome

      Some years later, aged twenty-one, Caravaggio went to Rome where, undoubtedly helped by his uncle who already lived in the city, he lodged with a landlord who lived a modest life, Fr Pandolfo Pucci di Recanati, an acquaintance of Monsignor Pucci, beneficiary of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. A document left by the historian W. Kallab indicates that the artist lived in comfortable conditions, but complained about certain aspects of domestic life, in particular about the meals which were composed entirely of salad and chicory. This is partly why after some months he left the home of Pandolfo Pucci, to whom he gave the nickname “Monsignor Insalata”. This same document indicates that the host commissioned from the young painter several works with religious subjects which were intended for his home town. It was at this time that Caravaggio fell ill and, having no money, he was admitted to the hospital of Santa Maria della Consolazione, where, during his convalescence, he painted numerous canvases for the Prior.

      Caravaggio’s experiences in Venice were still strongly influencing him whilst in Rome, and he continued to concentrate on acquiring his own majestic style. That was the aim behind, and the result of, his apprenticeship in the studio of the Cavalier d’Arpino. In 1593, Caravaggio entered the studio of the successful painter Giuseppe Cesari d’Arpino, also known as the Cavalier d’Arpino. Baglione tells us that “he stayed with the Cavalier Giuseppe Cesari d’Arpino for several months”.[23] Caravaggio turned to him in order to find connections to artistic circles in the Eternal City. Guiseppe Cesari has left frescos in the Trinità de’ Monti, in the chapel of the Palazzo di Monte Cavallo, and – his best work – in the Capella Olgiati in San Prassede. In the Capella Contarelli in San Luigi de’ Francesi, where he started the frescos, Caravaggio was to become his successor.Скачать книгу