Michelangelo Merisi, da Caravaggio (1571-1610)

Caravaggio’s importance in the history of art chiefly rests as a painter of biblical drama, whereby he utilised large expanses of canvas which he painted black, creating a moody setting in which he placed his figures – often lit from the side and portrayed with dramatic gestures. The expansive use of black paint on canvas has become his characteristic trademark, known as tenebrism (from the Latin, tenebrae, or ‘darkness’) while the contrast with light is known as chiaroscuro, (literally light-dark). These techniques mastered by Caravaggio today define the ‘Baroque’ perhaps more so than any other artist of the 17th century. He was a major influence on a generation of Italian artists, as well as Dutch painters practising in Rome in the 1600's, indeed so great was his influence that an entire style, or school, was named after him, the eponymous Caravaggesti. Numerous artists followed his techniques throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, including Velasquez, Reynolds, and Orpen, to create scenarios redolent with psychological drama. Caravaggio has even been cited as influential on photography and cinematography, with the director Martin Scorsese citing Caravaggio as integral to film making; in terms of inspiring the mood of films such as Mean Streets, whereby themes of social deviance and criminal activities are hidden under the cover of darkness, pierced with flashes of light.

A splendid example of this technique is shown on the forearm of the nearest soldier wearing armour in the Dublin Taking of Christ. Caravaggio is also famous for his depiction of the working poor, vagrants, beggars and courtesans. The Carracci brothers predated him in their depictions of street people, but nonetheless, Caravaggio’s representation of the poor and the social underworld, along with his own frequent ‘run-ins’ with the law led to his reputation as a Bohemian and criminal. This association between art and crime was discussed over centuries by art historians, including Stendhal, Ruskin and Fry. Themes of guilt and penitence are therefore integral to understanding his paintings and this concept is further reinforced by his identification as Judas in the Dublin Taking of Christ, an identification first discovered by the art historian, Roberto Longhi in the 1950s. As is well known this painting was rediscovered in the early 1990's and has been lent on long term loan to the National Gallery of Ireland from the Jesuits of Leeson Street, Dublin. The painting was described in detail in contemporary texts of the 17th century, for example Giovanni Bellori described the painting, Il Cattura di Cristo in detail. However its authorship became lost over time after it was misattributed to Gerard von Honthorst, a Dutch follower of Carvaggio, by Giuseppe Vasi in his Itinerary of Rome.