Caravaggio_ A Life Sacred and Profane - Andrew Graham-Dixon [122]
Caravaggio may also have been favoured by the religious order that owned the church, the Augustinian Friars of the Congregation of Lombardy. They were from his corner of Italy, and would have had every chance to admire his new pictures in San Luigi dei Francesi, which was only a short walk from their door. St Augustine himself had regarded human beings as essentially helpless recipients of divine mercy, measured out according to the inscrutable logic of a predestined universe, so an Augustinian community may have been impressed by the painter’s The Calling of St Matthew, which shows a sudden, inexplicable shining of divine grace into the life of a sinner.
Cardinal Giustiniani’s involvement in the commission is confirmed by the contract for the new work. He is described in the role of banker, making the first payment to Caravaggio on Cerasi’s behalf. The document is dated 24 September 1600:
Michael Angelo [sic] Merisi da Caravaggio … outstanding painter of the city, contracts with Tiberio Cerasi to paint two pictures on cypress wood, each with a length of ten Roman palmi and a width of eight, representing the Conversion of St Paul and the Martyrdom of St Peter, for delivery within eight months, with all figures, persons, and ornaments which seem fit to the painter, to the satisfaction of his Lordship. The painter shall also be obliged to submit specimens and designs of the figures and other objects with which according to his invention and genius he intends to beautify the said mystery and martyrdom. This promise the said painter has made for an honorarium and price of 400 scudi in cash … [having received] 50 scudi in the form of a money order directed to the Most Illustrious Vincenzo Giustiniani … For all this the parties have pledged themselves … They have renounced to the right of appeal, in perfect consent and have taken their oaths respectively: the Prelate according to the custom of his rank, by touching his breast; Messer Michel Angelo [sic], by touching the Bible …23
Tiberio Cerasi had only acquired the burial chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo in July, barely more than two months earlier, and clearly wanted to avoid the kinds of delay that had plagued the decoration of the Contarelli Chapel. He may also have suspected that he did not have long to live. Two years earlier he had signed his last testament, in which he declared the Hospital of Santa Maria Consolazione to be the erede universale and residuary legatee of his will.24 His father, Stefano Cerasi, had worked there as a physician, and Tiberio had always kept close ties with the institution.25 In his will, Cerasi wrote that his love for the hospital was greater than his poor bequest could convey. He was a man with his mind on the next world, determined to be in credit when the final reckoning came. He would die while work was still in progress on the paintings for his chapel, but the results would surely have pleased him. Caravaggio’s dark and solemn style was well suited to his penitential mood.
Saints Peter and Paul were deeply revered in Rome. Their heads were reputedly preserved in St John Lateran, their bodies buried before the high altar of St Peter’s. It was believed that they had both been martyred in the city on the same day, baptizing the Roman Church with their blood. Because they were regarded as ‘the founders of the Apostolic See’,26 the stories of their lives were often presented together, but it was unusual to see depictions of the particular episodes prescribed by Cerasi placed side by side. The conversion of Paul was not usually paired with Peter’s martyrdom, but with Peter receiving