The Lenten Season is officially upon us, embodied by a spirit of reflection and repentance leading to the Celebration of Easter on April 16th. As there is an undeniable influence of Christian theology on the history of art, every Sunday of Lent we will explore art with distinctly Christian themes in a methodology known as visual theology. Some posts will contain brief biographical, iconographic and/or formal analysis as well. The Gospel: written by man through divine inspiration as the living Word of God. For centuries, the Church has been focused on the divine origins of the holy Bible, even creating an entire artistic genre to represent the process. Most artistic representations of these inspirations were formulaic, until one artist provided a spark of life that shook the very foundations of the artistic tradition. Baroque painter, Caravaggio, challenged the centuries old formula of depicting the divine inspiration of the Gospels, while returning to the theological importance behind capturing the Word of God. His provocative interpretation, however, was met with harsh criticisms within the Church. Although adhering closely to traditional Biblical exegesis, Caravaggio's first Inspiration of Saint Matthew, Saint Matthew and the Angel, was rejected for failing to conjure an image that properly embodied the ideals of the Counter-Reformation. The Inspiration of Saint Matthew was painted for the Contarelli Chapel in the Roman church of San Luigi dei Francesi. Named after its patron, Cardinalate Matteo Contarelli, the chapel had a tumultuous history filled with a deceased patron, involvement of the papacy, lawsuits and several artists leaving incomplete works in the forty years prior to Caravaggio’s involvement. As a relative unknown artist who had yet to prove himself publicly, Caravaggio was approached by Virgilio Crescenzi, the heir of the deceased Cardinalate Contarelli, to paint two lateral narrative scenes on Saint Matthew for the chapel. A contract was signed on July 23, 1599 for a price of 400 scudi and Caravaggio promised to deliver two monumental paintings. Nearly a year later, Caravaggio finished the two paintings, The Calling of St. Matthew and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew; his artistic genius became infamous. Caravaggio’s reputation was set and he developed into the most sought after artist in Rome. The Contarelli Chapel was the spark that ignited the light of Caravaggio’s career. His paintings were so well received that two years later, when Flemish artist Jacques Cobaert’s unfinished sculpture of St. Matthew for the chapel’s altar was finally installed and abruptly removed less than a month later, he was the first choice to create the new replacement. So on February 7, 1602, Caravaggio signed a contract for 150 scudi to paint an altarpiece of a seated Saint Matthew receiving divine inspiration from an angel. The painting was to be completed by May 23 of the same year, in time for Pentecost. Less than three months later Caravaggio produced his first Inspiration of Saint Matthew. Titled: Saint Matthew and the Angel, Caravaggio created a masterpiece of divine humanization that continues to be one of the most controversial paintings of his prolific career. Caravaggio’s Saint Matthew and the Angel embodies his mastery of creating tangible relationships with the divine. Matthew sits on the left cross-legged at a desk as an angel stands before him to the right guiding his hands as they write the Hebrew that appears upon the page. Eyebrows raised and forehead wrinkled, the Evangelist stares in amazement as the ancient text appears before him. When the painting was rejected it was immediately acquired by Marchese Giustiniani for his private collection. Sadly, it eventually ended up in Berlin and was destroyed during of the allied bombings of 1945. There are no commentaries that describe the colors of Caravaggio’s masterpiece. All that remain are black and white photographs and their color enhanced counterparts. Regardless, his characteristic exaggerated form of chiaroscuro, commonly referred to as tenebrism, creates striking contrasts of light and shadow cast upon Matthew and (slightly so) upon the angel. This intense handling of shading and lighting enhances the sculptural qualities of both figures, reinforcing their three-dimensional forms. One can almost grab Matthew’s foot as it appears to project forward from within the canvas towards the viewer. Figural appearance is essential to understanding Caravaggio’s provocative and unique artistic style, and never more so than within Saint Matthew and the Angel. While the androgynous angel is soft and ethereal as any heavenly being should be, Caravaggio’s depiction of Matthew is quite unconventional. The saint resembles a 17th century Italian peasant with his bare feet and gnarled beard. What is captured so beautifully within Saint Matthew is a key reason why the Church rejected the painting. Caravaggio created a saint that is both tangible and identifiable; he humanized the sacred. Although Caravaggio was criticized for such a blasphemous image of Saint Matthew, his depiction of the Evangelist adheres closely to biblical tradition. Biblical descriptions of the apostles portray men who lived on the fringes of society. After their calling and turn to discipleship, Christ urged them to give up all possessions and live off the generosity of others as they spread the Good News. Matthew and the other apostles were not men of means, or classical scholars as centuries old tradition has chosen to depict them. Rather, they were humble first century Jews seeking the treasures of God’s Kingdom, not the Earth’s. As a result, Matthew is an early Christian whose life transcends space and time allowing him to relate to Caravaggio’s 17th century audience as much as first Century Jews and Gentiles. Therefore, in his first depiction of the Evangelist in Saint Matthew and the Angel, Caravaggio creates a saint that “emphasizes the historical roots of the church, its universality and its tradition.” Matthew’s relatability and humility is further emphasized in his childlike wonder at the divine inspiration that surrounds him. Caravaggio clearly depicts Matthew in a state of awe and wonder as “divine revelation ends his earthly ignorance.” His form emerges from the shadows into the light as he too, emerges from the shadows of ignorance. Humility and divine inspiration go hand in hand as Matthew expresses a childlike earnestness to receive God’s Word. He becomes the living embodiment of Christ’s words: “Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Caravaggio reveals that the greatness of Matthew lies not in his wealth, rank or scholarly pursuits, but rather in his willingness to humble himself before God and achieve divine wisdom through his acceptance of earthly ignorance. Therefore, the angel is not an indication of Matthew’s illiteracy, but his readiness to be a vessel for God. In addition, this stresses the divine origin of the Hebrew text and Matthew’s gospel. Saint Matthew and the Angel is more than just a painting depicting the inspiration of Matthew’s Gospel; it is an allegory for a relationship with the divine, with God. Caravaggio “makes the supernatural actual and establishes a direct rapport between the scene and the spectator to identify with the mystery being portrayed.” Yet, the Catholic Church did not view Caravaggio’s revolutionary depiction in such esteemed light. They criticized his painting, as have many throughout the centuries for not only going against decorum, but for being inherently blasphemous. The first Inspiration of Saint Matthew met immediate criticism. Matthew’s “gross and vulgar appearance [was] matched only by his illiteracy.” The dawn of the 17th century was the height of the Counter-reformation for the Catholic Church. If they were going to be chastised by Protestants for their religious imagery, especially of the saints, then all religious paintings were required give to the proper reverence and glory necessary to justify representations of the divine. Saint Matthew and the Angel did not meet those requirements. While Caravaggio emphasized the humble means of the Evangelist, an interpretation consistent with the Bible, Matthew was traditionally treated as a scholarly man of letters. Therefore, his apparent illiteracy read like an insult as Matthew appeared to “struggle with the ‘difficult’ task of writing.” In addition, Caravaggio’s humanist depiction of the saint was not viewed as touching or even relatable, but terribly ‘uncouth.’ Most off-putting of all was not Matthew’s bulbous head, or rough exterior, but his bare feet. That Caravaggio “brought a peasant’s soiled foot into the vicinity of the priest’s hands as he elevated the Host during mass” was revolting. Several critics believe, however, that Caravaggio was not depicting a dirty bare-foot ‘country bumpkin,’ but Socrates as he had been portrayed within Raphael’s School of Athens. The philosopher was known for walking barefoot and claiming the acknowledgment of ignorance as the source of his wisdom. Nonetheless, whatever Caravaggio’s inspiration, it was unacceptable to grace the altar of the Contarelli Chapel. Moreover, the disheveled appearance of Matthew made the physical contact between the divine being and the Evangelist vulgar. An angel would never have made such contact with this individual. Despite the disparaging differences in theological perspectives that lead to the ultimate rejection of Caravaggio’s painting, one complaint was purely aesthetic. Caravaggio’s Calling of St. Matthew and Martyrdom of Saint Matthew were completed two years prior to the first Inspiration. Therefore, the Church intended for their Matthews to be consistent in their physical depictions. While Matthew’s face is consistent between the two lateral paintings, the Matthew of the Inspiration appeared to be an entirely different individual. Caravaggio’s patrons sought consistency. While the Church failed to see the biblically inspired humility of Caravaggio’s Saint Matthew and the Angel, there was a key theological component that ensured the painting’s refusal. The original commission called for divine inspiration. Although the Bible is the living word of God, it was ultimately written by man. Caravaggio’s first Inspiration appears to removes all autonomy from Matthew as the angel is directly controlling the written word. This can be interpreted allegorically as the divine pouring into and working through Matthew, but contemporary beliefs were that the angel was dictating Matthew's writings. Therefore, in an effort to emphasize St. Matthew’s humility and relationship with God, Caravaggio made the heavenly relationship too tangible. Thus, focusing on the painting’s aesthetic shortcomings in light of the current challenges the Catholic Church was facing during the Counter-Reformation, Caravaggio’s Saint Matthew and the Angel could not hang in the altar of the Contarelli Chapel. Since Caravaggio’s first Inspiration of Saint Matthew “pleased no one,” he was forced to make a decision. There was a special clause to the contract he signed stating, “If for any reason the Church’s abbott rejected the painting, the artist agreed to pay for a replacement.” Rather than pay for another artist to have their work hang inside Contarelli’s altar beside his artwork, Caravaggio opted to paint a replacement. After changing his painting to meet the desires of the Church and reflect a greater adherence to traditional renderings of the subject, Caravaggio’s second version of the Inspiration of Saint Matthew was accepted by the Church and subsequently hung in the altar. It was finished prior to the May 23rd deadline and still hangs in the Contarelli Chapel today. Upon completing his second Inspiration of Saint Matthew, Caravaggio became the most sought after painter in Italy. His lifestyle caught up with him several years later when he was involved in a duel outside of Rome in 1606 that resulted in the death of another man. He was condemned as a murderer and a bando capitale was decreed. A bounty was placed upon his head and anyone within the Papal States had the right to kill him. Only his head was needed to claim the bounty. Caravaggio roamed from Malta, Sicily and Naples for the next four years, eventually dying in the small town of Porto Ercole while racing to track down a boat that held three of his paintings. According to the terms set by Scipione Borghese, the paintings were to serve as the price of his bounty and allow for his return to Rome. Despite living a brief life plagued by controversy and consumed with the profane, Caravaggio was an artistic genius responsible for painting some of the Western world’s most theologically profound works of art. Although what the Church wanted for the Contarelli Chapel varied greatly from what Caravaggio depicted, his first Inspiration, Saint Matthew and the Angel, portrayed a saint that is the Christian ideal of humility and a symbol of divine grace. Just as Christ was rejected for not embodying the image of a Jewish king, Caravaggio’s Saint Matthew and the Angel was rejected for failing to portray Matthew as the ideal of sainthood. Yet, Caravaggio understood what the Church did not. “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Caravaggio’s first Matthew is not a king, a noble or a scholar; he is a simple man who has received divine inspiration for he has chosen to humbly walk beside his God. Chorpenning, Joseph F. "Another Look at Caravaggio and Religion." Artibus et Historiae 8, no.
16 (1987): 149-158. Accessed April 17, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1483305. Graham-Dixon,Andrew. Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane. New York: Penguin, 2010. Hess, Jacob. "The Chronology of the Contarelli Chapel." The Burlington Magazine 93, no. 579 (1951): 186-201. Accessed April 17, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/870607. Lavin, Irving. "Divine Inspiration in Caravaggio's Two St. Matthews." The Art Bulletin 56 (1974): 59-81. Accessed April 17, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3049196. Lavin, Irving. "A Further Note on the Ancestry of Caravaggio's First Saint Matthew." The Art Bulletin 62 (1980): 118-119. Accessed April 17, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3049964. Spike, John T. Caravaggio. New York: Abbeville Press, 2001. Thomas, Troy. "Expressive Aspects of Caravaggio's First Inspiration of Saint Matthew." The Art Bulletin 67, no. 4 (1985): 636-652. Accessed April 17, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3050848. Vodret, Rossella. Caravaggio: The Complete Works. Milan: Silvana Editoriale Spa, 2010.
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