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The paintings he created on this subject convey a sense of harmony, joy, pleasure, and serenity, sometimes melancholy, and combine the figures of young musicians placed in a realistic setting where the evocations of the ephemeral pleasures of terrestrial life abound (depicted with flowers, fruit, vegetables, and wine) and in which resonate the echoes of the pleasure provided by music (The Musicians). His work must be placed in its historical and cultural context to understand why Caravaggio asked young men to model for paintings with music for their theme.
The Musicians (detail)
c. 1595
Oil on canvas, 92 × 118.5 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Indeed, in the Baroque era, women were excluded from public performances. In church, priests asked young musicians, often trained by them, and young castrati to perform the vocal parts in their repertoires, like the famous castrati of the Sistine Chapel. The privileged place that music held in Caravaggio’s life and in his work also deserves to be highlighted. Many of the singers and musicians give life to his paintings, even when they are not the main subjects.
The Fortune Teller (first version)
c. 1595
Oil on canvas, 115 × 150 cm
Musei Capitolini, Rome
Paintings such as the Guitar Player, The Lute Player, the ecstatic Saint Cecilia, The Musicians, and Amor Victorious, in which orchestral instruments are included, are more than just virtuoso portraits or fortuitous series of musical subjects; they probably reflect the inner images of the dream-like world of this painter who was very sensitive to music. The poetry conveyed by the unexpected presence of the angel musician playing the violin in the Rest on the Flight into Egypt seems to confirm this hypothesis.
The Fortune Teller (first version, detail)
c. 1595
Oil on canvas, 115 × 150 cm
Musei Capitolini, Rome
In this painting, the Madonna and Child are dozing while Saint Joseph is patiently reading the musical score, and the long-eared donkey seems to be an attentive and privileged listener. This delightful work shows the passion of its author for music and his taste for humour and satire.
In the work of Caravaggio, melodic notes join the characteristic tinkle of the jester’s bells. If the painter adds some joke, even within the seriousness of drama or the majesty of history, legends, or religious mystery, it is to distract attention from its primary meaning.
Bacchus
c. 1596
Oil on canvas, 95 × 85 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
The work of Caravaggio also has a subversive dimension that manifests itself through humorous inventions. His jokes were not the placid laughter of those who satisfy themselves with a limited well-being in terms of their destiny and their fellow human beings, but were more of a satirical outlet for an irritable personality, always on the edge of a nervous breakdown; for a rebel fighting without faltering against men, life’s setbacks, and school traditions. Each burst of laughter was a mocking grimace, a vengeful insult, more or less disguised, and perhaps simple scorn.
Bacchus (detail)
c. 1596
Oil on canvas, 95 × 85 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Here he mocked the ungenerous host, there he wrote a mordant verse against Giovanni Baglione, here again he mocked commissioners, whether it be the religious patrons of San Luigi dei Francesi or the brothers of Santa Maria della Scala. Elsewhere, he might utter some gratuitously coarse words directed not only against conformism, but also against religion and fashion. His work was intended to shock and irritate orthodoxy, the Academy and the socialites of the time, and secretly he rejoiced as he advanced.
Rest on the Flight to Egypt
1596–1597
Oil on canvas, 133.5 × 166.5 cm
Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome
This painter of earthly pleasures also knew how to be the champion of love. If certain paintings allow us to think that the painter admired gracious figures – for example the young blonde girl crying in The Entombment – the majority of his works attest to his predilection for strong and curvaceous figures. The young mother chosen as a model for the painting of Sant’Agostino is the perfect example of a beautiful woman whose sensuality embodies humanity.
Rest on the Flight to Egypt (detail)
1596–1597
Oil on canvas, 133.5 × 166.5 cm
Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome
Caravaggio, who was an advocate of amorous pleasure, had an instinctive devotion to all women and behaved as a gentleman towards them in his inner self. Throughout his life he showed great nobility when defending the weak or when amongst the young people with whom he mixed while training with arms or for affairs of the heart. If in him the innate male disposition to court women was in conflict with the demands of another type of sentiment, the latter largely took over.
Saint John the Baptist
c. 1597–1598
Oil on canvas, 169 × 112 cm
Museo Tesoro Catedralicio, Toledo
Indeed, throughout his life, the painter often chose a delicate representation of femininity which offered him great possibilities aesthetically, while it seems that in reality he preferred partners of his own sex, as attested in one of his best works, Amor Victorious, in which the tyrannical character of love is symbolised in an exalted manner.
Caravaggio was not a slave to his amorous activities and he mostly had the penchants of an honest young man. His work clearly shows that he did not undertake anything excessive in this domain.
Saint John the Baptist (detail)
c. 1597–1598
Oil
