Caravaggio!

01Mar10

This image was painted by Michelangelo Caravaggio, who was an Italian painter born in September of 1571.  While in Milan he was trained under a master painter that was taught by Titian so there are a lot of similarities of Titian with his lighting and dramatic implied movement and hierarchy of light. During this time in history the Catholic church was searching for artists to fill their churches with paintings that promoted Catholicism against the growing Protestant following.  So one will see a lot of religious influence in paintings because of the sanction of the Church for the time.   This painting depicts the story of the sacrifice of Isaac that was told in the bible.  One can see Caravaggio’s style with the angel coming in from the side and the lightness of his shoulder blade and the implied lines of the faces and eyes looking at each other and the dramatic highlights of the skin help guide the eye around the painting.   The contrast of dark darks and hilighted lights help to emphasize the parts of the painting that Caravaggio wanted you to see.  This also is combined with the dramatic and horrific act that is taking place, the emotion is captured in the faces and expressions of all forms. Depicting the story of the ultimate loyalty, Abraham is asked to kill his son Issac but just at the last second an angel is sent down to stop him because he was so loyal listened to God. I think this image was made because of the Church sanctioning and paying well for artists paintings and sculptures.  Caravaggio painted a previous composition that a cardinal was pleased with and gave him the go a head to make a painting.  I feel as this painting depicts horrific event but also implies that you must trust in God.  However I find it funny that Caravaggio was in three “brawls” and in one of them he actually killed a man and fled from Rome with a bounty on his head.  I feel that his seemingly violent nature is embeded in his work.

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