ANDREW GRAHAM-DIXON
Caravaggio
A Life Sacred and Profane
PENGUIN BOOKS
Contents
List of Illustrations and Illustration Acknowledgements
Maps: Milan, c. 1590; Rome, c. 1600; Valletta, c. 1607; Naples, c. 1610; Italy, c. 1610
Preface and Acknowledgements
Part One: Milan, 1571–92
Part Two: Rome, 1592–5
Part Three: Rome, 1595–9
Part Four: Rome, 1599–1606
Part Five: The Alban Hills, Naples, Malta, Sicily, Naples, Porto Ercole, 1606–10
Epilogue
Illustrations
Notes
Further Reading
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
For more than twenty-five years, Andrew Graham-Dixon has published a weekly column on art, first in the Independent and more recently, the Sunday Telegraph. He has written a number of acclaimed books, including A History of British Art and Renaissance, and is twice winner of the Hawthornden Prize, Britain’s top prize for writing about art. He is one of the leading figures in broadcasting in the UK, having presented seven major television series on art for the BBC.
PENGUIN BOOKS
CARAVAGGIO
‘The author’s insights into the individual paintings are remarkable, but what really gives the book its pep is the author’s picking apart of the scanty evidence about Caravaggio’s private life, the prostitutes and friends who people his paintings, and the seedy world of late-Renaissance Rome through which he swaggered’ Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times, Books of the Year
‘Remarkable … Sheds fresh light on the painter whose hot temper was as renowned as his work … uncovers details on pivotal events during the artist’s turbulent career’ Roya Nikkhah, Sunday Telegraph
‘Highly readable … thorough and elegant … Caravaggio has done the artist proud’ Ian Thomson, Spectator
‘Andrew Graham-Dixon’s absorbing biography leaves no stone unturned … he is an entertaining art historian’ Economist
‘Graham-Dixon’s excellent new book … the complexity of Caravaggio’s character as well as his art is vividly evoked by Graham-Dixon throughout this book … Graham-Dixon’s biography will surely quickly establish itself as the outstanding introduction to Caravaggio’s life and art’ Brian Allen, Standpoint
‘Andrew Graham-Dixon brings the bad-boy genius of the seventeenth century to life as vividly as if he were one of today’s pop stars. His book is scholarly, perceptive and very well written’ John Richardson
‘An entertaining read … an engaging and well-written account of Caravaggio’s life’ Sheila McTighe, Art Quarterly
‘A beautifully paced narrative … its tremendous narrative drive … steers the story fluently and plausibly between the pitfalls of academic dryness and overdone speculation. As a human story it is ultimately tragic’ Charles Nicholl, Sunday Times
To the memory of my mother, Sue, who first awoke my love of reading, writing and looking at art
List of Illustrations
All works are by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610), unless otherwise stated.
1. Portrait of Caravaggio by Ottavio Leoni (1578–1630), c. 1621–5 but clearly based on a life drawing originally done in c. 1595–1606, Biblioteca Marucelliana, Florence, Italy. Photo: Scala, Florence. Drawing: black chalk heightened with white on blue paper, 9.2 x 6.4 in. (23.4 x 16.3 cm).
2. The sacro monte at Varallo, Italy. Copyright © Sabine Tilly.
3. The sacro monte at Varallo, Italy. Copyright © Sabine Tilly.
4. The Lamentation by Guido Mazzoni (1450–1518), 1492, Church of Sant’Anna dei Lombardi, Naples, Italy. akg-images/De Agostini Picture Library. Terracotta.
5. Mary Magdalen by Donatello (c. 1386–1466), 1453–5, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Gilt wood, height 74 in. (188 cm).
6. Portrait of Carlo Borromeo by Carlo Dolci (1616–86), Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas (octagonal), 36.8 x 30.3 in. (93.5 x 77 cm).
7. The Adoration of the Shepherds by Simone Peterzano (1540–96), 1578–82, Charterhouse of Garegnano, Milan, Italy/Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library. Fresco.
8. Venus and Anchises, The Farnese Gallery (detail) by Annibale Carracci (1560–1609), begun 1597, Palazzo Farnese, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Fresco.
9. Perseus and Andromeda by Giuseppe Cesari (1568–1640), 1602, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on Canvas, 20.4 x 15 in. (51.8 x 38.2 cm).
10. Boy Peeling a Fruit, c. 1592–3, The Royal Collection © 2009, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Oil on canvas, 24 x 19 in. (61 x 48.3 cm).
11. Boy with a Basket of Fruit, c. 1593–4. Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy/Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on Canvas, 27.6 x 26.4 in. (70 x 67 cm).
12. Boy Bitten by a Lizard, c. 1595, National Gallery, London, UK. © The National Gallery, 2010. Oil on canvas, 26 x 19.5 in. (66 x 49.5 cm).
13. Boy Bitten by a Crayfish by Sofonisba Anguissola (1532–1625), c. 1554, Museo di Capodimonte, Gabinetto dei Disegni, inv. 1030, Naples, Italy. Photo: Scala, Florence, courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali. Drawing.
14. Self-Portrait as Bacchus, c. 1593–4, Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy/Lauros/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on Canvas, 26.4 x 20.9 in. (67 x 53 cm).
15. Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (c. 1488–1576), 1520–23, National Gallery, London, UK. © The National Gallery, 2010. Oil on canvas, 69.5 x 75.2 in. (176.5 x 191 cm).
16. The Cardsharps, 1595, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, USA/Art Resource, NY/Scala, Florence. Oil on canvas, 37 x 51 in. (94.2 x 30.9 cm).
17. The Gypsy Fortune-Teller, 1595, Pinacoteca Capitolina, Palazzo Conservatori, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 59.5 x 45.7 in. (151.2 x 116 cm).
18. Portrait of Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte by Ottavio Leoni (1578–1603), 1616, Museum Purchase, Collection of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, The State Art Museum of Florida, a division of Florida State University, USA. Drawing: black chalk heightened with white on blue paper, 9 x 6½ in. (22.9 x 16.5 cm).
19. The Palazzo Madama by Giuseppe Vasi (1710–82). Engraving.
20. Medusa, c. 1598, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Photo: Scala, Florence, courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali. Oil on canvas attached to wood, diameter 22 in (55.5 cm).
21. The Musicians, c. 1595–6, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence, Italy. Oil on canvas, 36¼ x 46 in. (92.1 x 118.4 cm).
22. Le Concert Champêtre by Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (c. 1488–1576), c. 1510, Louvre, Paris, France/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 41.3 x 53.9 in. (105 x 137 cm).
23. Concert by Callisto Piazza (1500–1561), 1520, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. John G. Johnson Collection, 1917. Oil on panel 35 x 35¾ in (90.5 x 90.8 cm).
24. The Lute Player, c. 1596, Hermitage, St Petersburg, Russia/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 37 x 46.9 in. (94 x 119 cm).
25. Basket of Fruit, c. 1596–8, Ambrosiana, Milan, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 12.2 x 18.5 in. (31 x 47 cm).
26. The Penitent Magdalen, c. 1595–6, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome, Italy/Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 48.2 x 38.8 in. (122.5 x 98.5 cm).
27. St Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, c. 1596, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, USA/Art Resource NY/Scala, Florence. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, 1943.222. Oil on canvas, 36 x 50¼ in. (92.5 x 127.8 cm).
28. The Rest on the Flight to Egypt, c. 1595–6, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome, Italy/Alina
ri/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 53.3 x 65.6 in. (135.5 x 166.5 cm).
29. The Judgement of Hercules by Annibale Carracci (1560–1609), c. 1595–6, Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas 65.7 x 93.3 in. (167 x 237 cm).
30. Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, c. 1598–9, Casino dell’Aurora, Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, Rome, Italy/akg-images/Andrea Jemolo. Ceiling painting in oil, 124.4 x 59.8 in. (316 x 152 cm).
31. Bacchus, c. 1597–8, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy/Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 36.6 x 33.5 in. (93 x 85 cm).
32. Martha and Mary Magdalen, c. 1598, Detroit Institute of Arts, USA/Gift of the Kresge Foundation and Mrs Edsel B. Ford/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil and tempera on canvas, 38.5 x 52.2 in. (97.8 x 132.7 cm).
33. St Catherine, 1599, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Photo: Scala, Florence. Oil on canvas, 68.1 x 52.4 in. (173 x 133 cm).
34. Portrait of Fillide Melandroni, c. 1598, Gemäldegalerie des Kaiser-Friedrich Museum, Berlin, Germany, inv. 356 (destroyed in 1945). Photo: Scala, Florence/BPK, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin, Germany. Oil on canvas, 26 x 20.9 in. (66 x 53 cm).
35. Judith and Holofernes, 1598–9, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 57.1 x 76.8 in. (145 x 195 cm).
36. The Entombment, 1604, Vatican Museums and Galleries, Vatican City, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 118.1 x 79.9 in. (300 x 203 cm).
37. Pietà by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), 1499, Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Marble, 68.5 x 79.8 in. (174 x 195 cm).
38. The Calling of St Matthew, 1599–1600, Contarelli Chapel (left-hand-side wall), San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on panel, 126.8 x 133.9 in. (322 x 340 cm).
39. The Creation of Adam (detail, post-restoration) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), 1511–12, Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Italy. Fresco, 110.2 x 224.4 in. (280 x 570 cm).
40. The Martyrdom of St Matthew, 1599–1600, Contarelli Chapel (right-hand-side wall), San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 127.2 x 135 in. (323 x 343 cm).
41. The Conversion of St Paul (first version), 1600–1601, Palazzo Odescalchi, Collection of Principessa Nicoletta Odescalchi, Rome, Italy. Photo: Scala, Florence. Oil on cypress, 90.6 x 68.9 in. (230 x 175 cm).
42. The Crucifixion of St Peter, 1600–1601, Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, Italy/Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 90.6 x 68.9 in. (230 x 175 cm).
43. The Cerasi Chapel (front view), Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, Italy. © Archivo Fotografico, Soprintendenza Speciale per il Patrimonio Storico Artistico ed Etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della Città di Roma.
44. The Conversion of St Paul (second version), 1600–1601, Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 90.6 x 68.9 in. (230 x 175 cm).
45. The Supper at Emmaus, 1601, National Gallery, London, UK. © The National Gallery, 2010. Oil on tempera on canvas, 55.5 x 77.4 in. (141 x 196.2 cm).
46. St John the Baptist, 1602, Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy. Photo: Scala, Florence. Oil on canvas, 50.8 x 37.4 in. (129 x 95 cm).
47. Ignudo (detail, post-restoration) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), 1511–12, Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Italy/Bridgeman Art Library. Fresco.
48. The Betrayal of Christ, 1602, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. With kind permission of the Jesuit community, who acknowledge the generosity of Dr Marie Lee Wilson. Oil on canvas, 52.6 x 66.7 in. (133.5 x 169.5 cm).
49. Street Scene by Francesco Villamena (1564–1624), 1601, British Museum, London, UK. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Engraving, 13.6 x 19.5 in. (34.5 x 49.5 cm).
50. St Matthew and the Angel (first version), 1602, Gemäldegalerie des Kaiser-Friedrich Museum, Berlin, Germany, inv. 365 (destroyed in 1945). Photo: Scala, Florence/BPK, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin, Germany. Oil on canvas, 87.8 x 72 in. (223 x 183 cm).
51. St Matthew and the Angel (second version), 1602, Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 116 x 76 ¾ in. (295 x 195 cm).
52. The Death of the Virgin, 1606, Louvre, Paris, France/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 145¼ x 96½ in. (369 x 245 cm).
53. The Death of the Virgin by Carlo Saraceni (1579–1620), 1610, Church of Santa Maria della Scala, Rome, Italy. Photo: Scala, Florence/Fondo Edifici di Culto- Min. dell’Interno. Oil on canvas, 180.7 x 107.5 in. (459 x 273 cm).
54. Doubting Thomas, c. 1603, Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany/Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 42.1 x 57.5 in. (107 x 146 cm).
55. The Sacrifice of Isaac, 1603, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy/Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 40.9 x 53.1 in. (104 x 135 cm).
56. Omnia vincit amor, 1602, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany/Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 61.4 x 44.5 in. (156 x 113 cm).
57. Divine Love by Giovanni Baglione (1566–1644), 1602, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 94.5 x 56.3 in. (240 x 143 cm).
58. Study for The Resurrection by Giovanni Baglione (1566–1644), c. 1602–3, Louvre, Paris, France/Lauros/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 33.8 x 22.2 in. (86 x 56.5 cm).
59. St Jerome Writing, c. 1605, Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 44.8 x 62.8 in. (113.8 x 159.5 cm).
60. St Francis in Meditation, c. 1603, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 37.2 in. (128.2 x 94.4 cm).
61. St John the Baptist, c. 1604, Nelson Art Gallery, Kansas City, USA. Photo: Scala, Florence. Oil on canvas, 68 x 52 in. (172.7 x 132 cm).
62. The Madonna of the Rosary, c. 1603–4, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. © Mondadori Electa/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 143.5 x 98.2 in. (364.5 x 249.5 cm).
63. The Madonna of Loreto, 1604, Cavalletti Chapel, Church Sant’Agostino, Rome, Italy. Photo: akg-images/Electa. Oil on canvas, 102.4 x 59.1 in. (260 x 150 cm).
64. The Madonna of the Palafrenieri, 1605–6, Galleria Borghese/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 115 x 83.1 in. (292 x 211 cm).
65. The contract for The Madonna of the Palafrenieri. Archivio dell’Arciconfraternita di Sant’Anna dei Palafreneiri, Cod. 843 v.sch.n 62. As reproduced and cited in Maurizio Marini, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio ‘pictor praestantissimus’ (second edition, Rome 1979), p. 56.
66. View of Zagarolo. Photo: Arsetfuror.
67. The Supper at Emmaus, 1606, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 55.5 x 68.9 in. (141 x 175 cm).
68. David with the Head of Goliath, 1606, Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 49.2 x 39.8 in. (125 x 101 cm).
69. Sleeping Cupid, 1608, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 28.3 x 41.3 in. (72 x 105 cm).
70. The Seven Acts of Mercy, 1606, Pio Monte della Misericordia, Naples, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 153.5 x 102.4 in. (390 x 260 cm).
71. Roman Charity (black and white photo, detail) by Pierino del Vaga (Pietro Buonaccorsi) (1501–47), c. 1528–34, Palazzo Doria Pamphili, Genoa, Italy/Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas.
72. The Flagellation, 1607, Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 112.6 x 83.9 in. (286 x 213 cm).
73. The Crucifixion of St Andrew, 1607, Cleveland Museum of Art. Leonard C. Hanna, Jr, Fund 1976.2. Oil on canvas, 79.7 x 60.1 in. (202.5 x 152.7 cm).
74. St Jerome Writing, 1607, Co-Cathedral of St John, Valletta, Malta. Photo: Scala, Florence. Oil on canvas, 46.1 x 61.8 in. (117 x 157 cm).
75. Portrait of Fra Antonio Martelli, 1607, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, It
aly/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 46.7 x 37.6 in. (118.5 x 95.5 cm).
76. Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt, with His Pageboy, 1607, Louvre, Paris, France/Peter Willi/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 76.4 x 52.8 in. (194 x 134 cm).
77. The Resurrection of Lazarus, 1609, Museo Regionale, Messina, Sicily, Italy/Lauros/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 149.6 x 108.3 in. (380 x 275 cm).
78. The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1609, Museo Regionale, Messina, Sicily, Italy/Lauros/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 124 x 83 in. (314 x 211 cm).
79. The Beheading of St John, 1608, Co-Cathedral of St John, Valletta, Malta/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on Canvas, 142.1 x 204.7 in. (361 x 520 cm).
80. St John the Baptist, 1610, Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 62.6 x 48.8 in. (159 x 124 cm).
81. The Adoration of the Shepherds (black and white photo), 1609, Oratory of San Lorenzo, Palermo, Italy/Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library. Stolen in 1969. Oil on canvas, 105.5 x 77.6 in. (268 x 197 cm).
82. The Burial of St Lucy, 1608, Basilica di Santa Lucia al Sepolcro, Syracuse, Italy. Photo: Scala, Florence. Oil on canvas, 160.6 x 118.1 in. (408 x 300 cm).
83. The Denial of St Peter, 1610, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. Gift of Herman and Lila Shickman, and Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1997. Oil on canvas, 37 x 49.4 in. (94 x 125.4 cm).
84. The Martyrdom of St Ursula, 1610, Intesa Sanpaolo Collection, the Gallery of Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano, Naples. Oil on canvas, 56.3 x 70.9 in. (143 x 180 cm).
85. Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–97), 1768, National Gallery, London, UK/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 72 x 96 in. (182.9 x 243.9 cm).
86. The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Géricault (1791–1824), 1819, Louvre, Paris, France/The Bridgeman Art Library. Oil on canvas, 193.3 x 281.9 in. (491 x 716 cm).
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