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CARAVAGGIO-EXHIBIT Mar-12-2010 (540 words) With photos posted March 11 and 12. xxxi
US museums lend masterpieces to major Caravaggio exhibit in Rome
By Father Matthew Gamber
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- Three Caravaggio masterpieces, originally painted in Rome but now part of U.S. museum collections, returned to Rome as part of a historic exhibit of the artist's work.
In a way, the paintings are on a pilgrimage back to their birthplace, said Elizabeth Lev, a Caravaggio expert and professor of art history at the Rome campuses of Duquesne University and the University of St. Thomas.
"Caravaggio's vision was carried across the ocean thanks to these works, but now these paintings are making a pilgrimage back to the city where they were born," Lev said.
"The bulk of Caravaggio's greatest hits were produced in Rome, so U.S. museums allowing these works to return home to commemorate the 400th anniversary of their creator's death strikes me as more than fitting," Lev said.
The show, simply titled "Caravaggio," opened in February and runs until June 13 at the Scuderie del Quirinale, an exhibition space in central Rome that once housed the pope's horses and carriages.
Michelangelo Merisi, who later called himself Caravaggio, was a native of Milan who came to Rome in the 16th century and revolutionized painting with his realistic style, using common people as models and depicting stark contrasts between darkness and light.
The Rome exhibit of his work contained a mix of sacred and secular themes that shows the range of Caravaggio's career, which was cut short when he died at age 39 of the flu.
Paintings such as "The Adoration of the Shepherds" and "The Annunciation" hang near images of the slightly drunk "Bacchus" and the lusty cupid of "Love Conquers All." But no matter the topic, Lev said, what was new about Caravaggio was how he used the people and atmosphere of real Roman street life in his art.
"When Caravaggio painted a holy story, he didn't reflect the world of luxury and ease, he painted the men and women working in the street," she said. "While other artists airbrushed models to a plastic perfection, Caravaggio gave us rough bare feet, filthy clothes, wrinkled faces and dirty fingernails," Lev said.
Lev thinks that the exhibit presents a challenge to all who see it.
"Caravaggio's everyday characters put a greater burden on the viewers," Lev said.
"Christ and his followers did not go to day spas, or visit galleries or wear custom-order clothes. We who have more comfortable lives, how do we face the lesser challenges asked of us, how do we live in the light?" Lev asked.
Caravaggio produced his masterpieces while also living a stormy life as a playboy, criminal, penitent and eventually a faithful Catholic, all of which find expression in his work.
The exhibit was strictly limited to works that were authenticated by art experts as unquestionably executed by the hand of Caravaggio. No "schools of Caravaggio" or "students of Caravaggio" were permitted.
To bring together a collection of "pure" Caravaggio paintings, museums around the world were asked to provide loans from their permanent collections.
The U.S. contributions consisted of "The Musicians" from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; "St. John the Baptist" from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo.; and "The Cardsharps" from the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
In its first month, the show sold out almost every day.
END
Copyright (c) 2010 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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