Caravaggio, Death of St. Matthew Essay - 1515 Words

Caravaggio, Death of St. Matthew Michelangelo de Caravaggio is one of the most renowned and popular artists of the Baroque Period. In fact, many paintings from this period, as well as after have been described as â€Å"Caravagesque.† Caravaggio’s works are some of the most popular in Italy, as well as around the world, and have been put into there own stylistic group. In his painting, the Martyrdom of St. Matthew, there contains certain characteristics that make the painting easily recognizable to a connoisseur of fine paintings. This paper will discuss some background of this artist’s life, the content of the work, some ideas that it portrays and contains, and a visual description of the painting. Michelangelo Amerigi, known in†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"When he heard these words, the king was consumed with rage, and went out of the church. After the Mass, the king sent a swordsman, who came behind Matthew as he stood at the altar with his hands raised to Heaven in prayer, drov e a sword into his back, and consummated the apostle’s martyrdom (death). This story was not written into the Bible, since the Gospels were written before Matthew traveled to Ethiopia as a missionary. That being the case, the story is recounted from the book the Golden Legend. Another characteristic of Caravaggios work was his use of light and dark. The Death of St. Matthew is dark overall, with a mysterious light source that eliminates the actual death of the Saint. This mysterious glow brings a religious feel to the painting and along with that gives the story a more powerful expression. Shadows and space are used very carefully to give a sense of immediacy to the scene. The figures around the murder all seem to be backing away from the action in different ways, which helps centralize the important part of the scene. This use of geometric placing of objects shows that he has not totally gotten away from earlier classical artistic methods. This painting also contains natural looking figures and objects, which help give some realism to the story. Grimaces on the face of Matthew, as well as the swordsman, and onlookers depict the reality of experiencing such a terrible occurrence. Flesh isShow MoreRelated â€Å"The Martyrdom of St. Matthew† - Painting Analysis Essay957 Words   |  4 Pageschose â€Å"The Martyrdom of St. Matthew† as the painting that best illustrates the baroque period. The reasons surrounding my decision are clear in Caravaggio’s painting. Here Caravaggio uses the entire canvas to illustrate complexity, flow, and chiaroscuro. The painting depicts the source of lighting to be coming from the left side of the plane. The brightest light focuses directly on Matthew’s executioner who intends to strike Matthew with an old balcanic hand weapon. Caravaggio masterfully illustratesRead MoreCaravaggio and His Life1093 Words   |  5 Pageswords that could describe Caravaggio. Most people who lived around same the time as Caravaggio would describe him as eccentric, murderous, quarrelsome, daring, defiant, and forgettable. As present-day people, we only have the artworks of Caravaggio to portray him as beautiful, insightful, religious, descriptive, innovate, traditional, and probably an â€Å"Italian Badass†. However, we must look at his paintings, his masterpieces, in order to truly understand who Caravaggio really was. Notorious forRead MoreThe Adoration Of Saints1633 Words   |  7 Pageslavished pigments-treating his works with great care. It is unclear where and to whom Vermeer was apprenticed as a painter, his style on apparently is similar to that of some of the Utrecht Carravagists; Baroque artists, influenced by the art of Caravaggio in the Dutch city of Utrecht during the early part of the seventeenth century. Vermeer may have first executed his paintings tonally, like most painters of his time, using either monochrome shades of grey (grisaille), or a limited palette of brownsRead MoreArt History Study Guide3003 Words   |  13 Pages(2700-2190 BCE) * Imhotep – Stepped Pyramid of Djoser * Chapter 5 Ancient Greece * Archaic (600-480 BCE) * Andokides Painter –Achilles and Ajax * Ergotimos –[and Kleitius] Fracois Vase * Euphronios –Death of Sarpedon * Exekias –Achilles and Ajax; Suicide of Ajax; Dionysis in a Boat * Polykleitos –Doryphoros * Classical (480-320 BCE) * Kalikrates –Temple of Athena Nike; [ and Iktinos] Parthenon * LysipposRead MoreSt.Jerome Essay4572 Words   |  19 Pagesto God. He seems to have abstained for a considerable time from the study of the classics and to have plunged deeply into that of the  Bible, under the impulse of  Apollinaris of Laodicea, then teaching in  Antioch  and not yet suspected of  heresy. St. Jerome reading in the countryside, byGiovanni Bellini Seized with a desire for a life of  ascetic  penance, he went for a time to the desert of  Chalcis, to the southwest of  Antioch, known as the  SyrianThebaid, from the number of hermits inhabiting it