Caravaggio: Sacred and Profane

Yesterday I heard Andrew Graham-Dixon speak at the Tokarska Gallery about the portrait of Caravaggio that he paints in his biography of the artist Caravaggio - A Life Sacred and Profane. Graham-Dixon gave a fascinating and entertaining two hour presentation of Caravaggio's life and work up until his escape from prison in Malta.

Among the most interesting aspects of the talk was Graham-Dixon's description of the cultural background in Milan from which Caravaggio came; Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, had argued that the High Renaissance art of Raphael and Michelangelo had led the Church astray and that Catholic art needed to engage with the poor masses by means of a popular realism which could grab the attention, through its drama, of those who saw it thereby aiding their meditation and prayer.

Graham-Dixon argued that Caravaggio's paintings invite a profane reading but, for those able to see, the symbolism of the paintings allows a sacred reading meaning that, in a sense, the painting judges you through your response to it. As a example, he discussed Bacchus noting that Bacchus, who is a pre-figuration of Christ, is holding out to us the wine which is his salvific blood and that the rotting fruit symbolises the sinfulness of our lives from which Christ will save us.

Caravaggio became caught in a battle between the realist and baroque styles; a debate over the extent to which the Counter-Reformation should engage with the poor masses as Borromeo had argued. The baroque was essentially based on fear of the masses by emphasising submission to the majesty and authority of the Church. By contrast Caravaggio indicated inclusion of the masses by depicting the poverty of Christ's disciples.

The two styles were set against each other in the Cerasi Chapel at Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome where Caravaggio's Crucifixion of St. Peter and Conversion of St. Paul frames the altarpiece, the Assumption of the Virgin by Annibale Carracci. The rear of the horse in the Conversion of St. Paul is positioned to point directly at the Carracci. Yet Caravaggio is, in his time, ultimately the loser in this battle - despite regularly defending his honour with physical acts of violence - as two major commissions he had been awarded (The Madonna of the Palafrenieri and The Death of the Virgin) were both rejected as a result of profane readings of his realism.

The tragedy of Caravaggio's life then accelerated as a direct result of these rejections with the profane aspects of his life dominating although redemption was regularly offered through the protection of the Colonna family, Franciscan spirituality which valued his realism, and the offer of a pardon from the Pope. Although there was insufficient time on the night to complete the story, in the summary of the book on his website, Graham-Dixon concludes: "Caravaggio had lived much of his life surrounded by poor and ordinary people. He painted for them and from their perspective. In the end he died and was buried among them, in an unmarked grave. He was 38 years old."   

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Tom Jones - Bad As Me.