Caravaggio_ A Life Sacred and Profane - Andrew Graham-Dixon [254]
28. The Rest on the Flight to Egypt. A scantily draped adolescent angel stands between Mary and Joseph. Caravaggio borrowed the figure from a composition by Annibale Carracci (below).
29. The Judgement of Hercules by Annibale Carracci.
30. Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto. Decorations for the ceiling of del Monte’s alchemical laboratory, in his house near the Porta Pinciana.
31. Bacchus. The model for Caravaggio’s second depiction of the god of wine was probably his Sicilian friend and fellow painter, Mario Minniti.
32. Martha and Mary Magdalen. Fillide Melandroni, not so penitent courtesan, modelled for the Magdalen. Her friend Anna Bianchini possibly sat for the figure of Mary’s sister Martha.
33. St Catherine. Fillide also posed for this depiction of the Christian martyr Catherine. ‘She leans towards the wheel and its vicious spikes of grey steel as if leaning towards a lover.’
34. Portrait of Fillide Melandroni. She kept this portrait with her until her death. It later passed into the German national collections and was destroyed by fire during the Second World War.
35. Judith and Holofernes. Fillide once more, frowning with concentration as she plays the part of the Old Testament biblical heroine beheading a tyrant.
36. The Entombment. This stark, strong composition was much admired by the people of Rome, whom Giovanni Baglione described as ‘chattering like geese’ at its unveiling.
37. Pietà by Michelangelo. Caravaggio adapted the limp right arm of Michelangelo’s dead Christ for his own version of the same figure in The Entombment (above).
38. The Calling of St Matthew. ‘And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him’ (Matthew 9).
39. The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo (detail). Caravaggio modelled the hand of his beckoning Christ (above) on the hand of Michelangelo’s Adam.
40. The Martyrdom of St Matthew. Caravaggio included his self-portrait among those fleeing from the scene of the crime. He looks back as if to regret his failure to help the stricken Matthew.
41. The Conversion of St Paul (first version). One of Caravaggio’s few failures, it was immediately rejected by the patron, Tiberio Cerasi. The reeling servant looks like a spear-carrier in a bad comic opera.
42. The Crucifixion of St Peter. Peter insisted that he be crucified upside down, because he felt unworthy of the same death as Christ. His unfeeling executioners impassively hoist him aloft.
43. The Cerasi Chapel (front view). (above the altar) Annibale Carracci’s Assumption of the Virgin. (left) The Crucifixion of St Peter. (right) The Conversion of St Paul, with horse’s rump aimed at Carracci’s Virgin Mary.
44. The Conversion of St Paul (second version). Rejecting the tumult and drama of his first, unsuccessful treatment of the subject (Plate 41), Caravaggio internalized the action so that we sense it unfolding within Paul’s soul.
45. The Supper at Emmaus. As the risen Christ reveals himself to the two disciples, they react with gestures of awe and astonishment.
46. St John the Baptist. Caravaggio’s workshop assistant, Cecco, modelled for this depiction of the saint in the wilderness as a smiling and ecstatic young boy.
47. Ignudo by Michelangelo. The male nudes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling evoke the golden age of classical myth. Caravaggio appropriated motifs from Michelangelo’s work throughout his life.
48. The Betrayal of Christ. ‘The pale, delicate, emotionally sensitive face of Christ is set hard against the brutish, sunburned face of Judas.’
49. Street Scene by Francesco Villamena. A notorious battle between Rome’s pro-French and pro-Spanish factions. Caravaggio took the billowing cloak for his own nocturnal street scene, The Betrayal of Christ.
50. St Matthew and the Angel (first version). Caravaggio’s first, rejected version of the altarpiece. Objections were raised