{"id":8818,"date":"2023-04-09T00:09:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-08T23:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=8818"},"modified":"2023-04-09T00:24:03","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T23:24:03","slug":"art-caravaggio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=8818","title":{"rendered":"ART: Caravaggio"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Wow! Such a powerfully beautiful composition!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mention of Caravaggio in a recent post set me to poring over a couple of art books we have on this incredible artist. I recently mentioned in another post having sketched a pencil version of The Conversion of St Paul<\/em> years ago. But I\u2019d like to try and paint it, as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whilst perusing Gilles Lambert\u2019s Taschen 25th title on Caravaggio just now, it was Saint Matthew and The Angel<\/em> that really clocked me one upside the head. What an incredible composition! Flat and empty to the point of being almost frieze like. Yet rich with light, shade, colour and volume. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rendering has the strength of sculpture. And yet is richly vibrantly colourfully alive. Caravaggio\u2019s eye and aesthetic sensibility imbue his art with an intensity that I can only reach for poetically: chestnuts, leather, velvet, red wine, red meat, incense, lace or muslin, the scent of candle wax and smoke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Incredibly dramatic!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In both St Matt<\/em> and The Conversion <\/em>the pictorial space, whilst rendered with surreal photo-realist clarity, remains so shallow as to be effectively flat. I love that! It\u2019s simultaneously modern, and timeless. It lives in the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As many have said, including my hero, Picasso, the best art of any era is most potently alive in whatever \u2018present\u2019 the viewer sees it. Great art loosens the shackles of short-lived fads, or era-specific parochialism\/opacity, and rises above time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Details of Victorious Cupid<\/em>, 1602.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some of Caravaggio\u2019s stuff looks, to my eyes, very blatantly homo-erotic. Check St Paul\u2019s torso in the painter\u2019s two versions of The Conversion<\/em>. When the subjects are young male nudes of a childlike appearance, that can sit rather awkwardly with current social mores, and indeed laws. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victorious Cupid<\/em> is a bit icky, to me. I call it Cupid Scratching His Arse<\/em>! But it\u2019s still an amazing artwork. And just look at the detail in the lower part of the painting. The musical instruments, armour, and textiles, are like a somber symphony in paint!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, it\u2019s great to be nourished by fabulous art. I am very grateful for the luxury of being able to indulge in such a hedonistic yet refined pursuit! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mention of Caravaggio in a recent post set me to poring over a couple of art books we have on this incredible artist. I recently mentioned in another post having sketched a pencil version of The Conversion of St Paul years ago. But I\u2019d like to try and paint it, as well. But whilst perusing … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “ART: Caravaggio”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[178,276,89,153,226,130,77,247,256,161],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-2ie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8818"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8818"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8820,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8818\/revisions\/8820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}