Caravaggio: "Invigorating the dark shades"

My most recent post showcased paintings that the Caravaggio 2025 exhibition grouped under the heading "Making a name for himself." I took the liberty of including Boy bitten by a Lizard and The Musicians, Caravaggio paintings both, under this same banner even though I had viewed them at their home institutions, rather than at the exhibition. The key reasons for their inclusions were (i) I had seen them in person and (ii) their completion dates fell within the same timeframes as the other paintings in this group.

The second grouping of paintings at Caravaggio 2025 was called "Invigorating the dark shades." I will come back to the meaning of this in a bit but at this point I would argue that this grouping is a subset of the first grouping, based on completion dates, because Caravaggio did not "arrive" until after the introduction of the Contarelli paintings.

The first painting in this grouping is Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini as Promontory Apostolic. According to the accompanying literature, this portrait of the future Pope Urban VIII has always had its attribution to Caravaggio "debated by scholars."

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio,
Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini as
Protonotary Apostolic, 1598 - 99
(Private collection, Firenze; viewed at
the Caravaggio 2025 exhibition, 7/18/2025)

According to Caravaggio 2025, Saint Catherine of Alexander "represents a major turning point in Caravaggio's artistic production." According to painter and biographer Giovanni Pietro Bellori, "... with this piece, Merisi begins to invigorate the dark shades," initiating a process which culminates in the Contarelli Chapel paintings.

This painting utilizes the interplay between light and dark, a technique called chiarascuro, which, when applied to Caravaggio, is called Tenebrism. Chiarascuro is "the sharp contrast between light and shadow." Tenebrism is characterized by "a type of violent illumination" -- usually artificial -- with "greater prominence to the illuminated area on which is placed a powerful focus of directed light." This was generally used in scenes of a religious nature and added a strong sense of drama to the depiction.

The model used in this painting is the same person used in Martha and Mary Magdalene and Judith beheading Holofernes.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio,
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, 1598 - 99
(Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza,
Madrid; viewed at the Caravaggio 2025
exhibition, 7/18/2025)

The second Barberini portrait in the Carvaggio 2025 exhibition is broadly attributed to the painter (not the case for the first one) and is one of the few surviving portraits done by his hand. In his left hand Barberini is clutching (probably) the piece of parchment which "bears the decree appointing him Cleric of the Apostolic Chamber  in 1597..." This was the first time that the painting had ever been shown publicly and, according to Caravaggio 2025, "represents a benchmark for all seventeenth-century portraiture and one of the finest examples of this painting genre."

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio,
Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, 1598 - 99
(private collection; viewed at the
Caravaggio 2025 exhibition, 7/18/2025)

While the two preceding paintings both have very dark backgrounds, the background of Martha and Mary Magdalene begins with a blue-brown to the left and then gets progressively darker as you move rightward. Nonetheless, subjects are brightly illuminated and stand in stark contrast to their surroundings.

The Caravaggio organizers speculate that this painting may heve been done for Olimpia Aldobrandini, a rich and powerful Italian noblewoman. It shows the conversion of Mary Magdalene "sealed by symbols of marriage such as an orange flower and and a golden ring" with Martha onlooking. The reflection of the light source is captured in the very dark convex mirror.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Martha and
Mary Magdalene, 1598 - 99
(Gallerie Nazionale di Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini,
Rome; viewed at the Caravaggio 2025
exhibition, 7/18/2025)

Judith beheading Holofernes is a raw, violent painting which captures the fear and horror of impending death on the one hand and clinical calmness from Judith on the other.The light defines the bulging muscles, upturned eyes, and gurgly scream of the victim while the maid clutches a cloth either nervously or waiting to see if a garrote would need to be applied. According to Carravagio 2025, "the focal point of the scene and Caravaggio's point of interest is Holofernes' blood-curdling cry, making it one of the first paintings to inaugurate the artist's tragic style, resonating with the question as to the line between life and death."

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Judith Beheading
Holofernes, 1599 - 1600 (Gallerie Nazionale di Arte Antica,
Palazzo Barberini, Rome; viewed at the Caravaggio 2025
exhibition, 7/18/2025)

The Sacred and the tragic between Naples and Rome will be the next category covered.