For Christmas once again I thought it would be a good idea to write about an Italian old master painting with an appropriate subject and the one I want to show you today is a cracker (sorry about the pun!)
I've always admired and been intrigued by the paintings of the Italian artist Caravaggio (1571-1610) so I was delighted that a bit of research revealed a picture I was unfamiliar with which was perfect for this seasonal post - for what better subject than the nativity itself. The painting is shown below.
An emotional, tempestuous and often violent man (he was charged and sentenced to death for killing a man in 1606) Caravaggio began his relatively short career in Rome but ended up moving on to Naples and then Malta. In the autumn of 1608 he travelled to Sicily spending a year on the island and this is where this picture was commissioned and painted.
All of his hallmark characteristics are visible in this nativity scene - a focus on the physical and emotional states of the participants, the use of ordinary people for models, dramatic lighting which serves to emphasize the drama of the moment and all the action taking place close to the picture plane (imagine this as a sheet of glass in the frame) with little else to distract the viewer from looking at the main subject - the birth of Jesus Christ.
Caravaggio's technique of working without preparatory drawings and quickly and directly on to the canvas always produces amazing results and this is the case here. The realism in the depiction is startling - Jesus looks like a baby fresh out of the womb and lying on the hay. Mary, his mother, appears bedraggled and exhausted from the birthing. The foreshortening of the angel carrying a proclamation banner makes him almost fly out of the picture towards the viewer. The composition invites us the onlookers to take part in the event. It's genuinely dramatic and a moving scene.
The canvas was painted to hang in the Sicilian oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo and it remained in this position for more than 350 years. Sadly, on a stormy October night in 1969, thieves broke in to the church and stole it by cutting it from its frame positioned above the altar. The image I've used here is a photograph of a poor reproduction that now occupies the space of the original. But who stole the painting and what has happened to it since that fateful event? Well - the whole story seems shrouded in mystery.
There are many theories concerning the theft of the painting. One suggests it was done by opportunistic amateurs. The picture had appeared in a TV programme broadcast shortly before the theft and the argument goes that this must have tipped off the thieves about the importance of the painting. Other theories involve the Sicilian Mafia and one such story recounts how the recipient of the painting was so distraught over its condition when he got it that he cried. Whatever the situation - Caravaggio's Nativity has never been seen again and it remains on the FBI's top 10 list of unsolved art crimes.
Art historians continue to be saddened by its loss for Caravaggio, who only painted about 70 pictures during his short life, was a key artist in the development of the Baroque style and hugely influential on the careers of such Masters as Rubens and Rembrandt later in the 17th century.
Ian Cox
December 2019
Happy Christmas to all my readers and please do have a look at some of my other postings which form part of this blog. My website is at bitsntrips.com
Thank you for reading this post.
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| Caravaggio Self-portrait |
I've always admired and been intrigued by the paintings of the Italian artist Caravaggio (1571-1610) so I was delighted that a bit of research revealed a picture I was unfamiliar with which was perfect for this seasonal post - for what better subject than the nativity itself. The painting is shown below.
 |
| The Nativity with San Lorenzo and San Francesco 1608-9 |
All of his hallmark characteristics are visible in this nativity scene - a focus on the physical and emotional states of the participants, the use of ordinary people for models, dramatic lighting which serves to emphasize the drama of the moment and all the action taking place close to the picture plane (imagine this as a sheet of glass in the frame) with little else to distract the viewer from looking at the main subject - the birth of Jesus Christ.
Caravaggio's technique of working without preparatory drawings and quickly and directly on to the canvas always produces amazing results and this is the case here. The realism in the depiction is startling - Jesus looks like a baby fresh out of the womb and lying on the hay. Mary, his mother, appears bedraggled and exhausted from the birthing. The foreshortening of the angel carrying a proclamation banner makes him almost fly out of the picture towards the viewer. The composition invites us the onlookers to take part in the event. It's genuinely dramatic and a moving scene.
 |
| The positioning of the painting in the Sicialin Oratory church of San Lorenzo |
The canvas was painted to hang in the Sicilian oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo and it remained in this position for more than 350 years. Sadly, on a stormy October night in 1969, thieves broke in to the church and stole it by cutting it from its frame positioned above the altar. The image I've used here is a photograph of a poor reproduction that now occupies the space of the original. But who stole the painting and what has happened to it since that fateful event? Well - the whole story seems shrouded in mystery.
There are many theories concerning the theft of the painting. One suggests it was done by opportunistic amateurs. The picture had appeared in a TV programme broadcast shortly before the theft and the argument goes that this must have tipped off the thieves about the importance of the painting. Other theories involve the Sicilian Mafia and one such story recounts how the recipient of the painting was so distraught over its condition when he got it that he cried. Whatever the situation - Caravaggio's Nativity has never been seen again and it remains on the FBI's top 10 list of unsolved art crimes.
Art historians continue to be saddened by its loss for Caravaggio, who only painted about 70 pictures during his short life, was a key artist in the development of the Baroque style and hugely influential on the careers of such Masters as Rubens and Rembrandt later in the 17th century.
Ian Cox
December 2019
Happy Christmas to all my readers and please do have a look at some of my other postings which form part of this blog. My website is at bitsntrips.com
Thank you for reading this post.
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