Subsequent to my attendance at the Caravaggio 2025 exhibition at Palazzo Barberini in Rome, I set out to describe the artist's oevrue based on the works that I have seen with my own two eyes and within a framework that made sense to me. To date I have written about the artist in terms of him: making a name for himself; invigorating the dark shades; scaling the heights; and riding the wave. In the latter, I closed with the death of Tommasino Rannucio at the hands of Caravaggio (May 28, 1606) and the painter reaping the punishment of a death sentence as a result. In the remainder of this series I will cover Caravaggio as "the artist on the run."
 |
Caravaggio on the run, 1606 - 1610
(By Shadowxfox et EnokAugusta 89Derivative
works : Frédéric-FR - File:Italy 1494-fr.svg
Augusta 89File:Italy 1494.svg Shadowxfox et Enok,
CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91656198 |
Caravaggio fled Rome in order to avoid the consequences of his crime. And he was aided in that effort. According to one source:
The story of Late Caravaggio is that of powerful patrons who sought to protect him despite knowing very well that he was a fugitive ... Wherever he went, the artist was honored and protected. Patrons were more interested in securing his brush rather than handing him over to justice.
Caravaggio's first assistance came from the powerful Colonna family. Costanza Colonna was the daughter of the famed Marcantonio II Colonna and Felice Orsini and was a longtime friend of the painter, a frequent guest at Palazzo Colonna. Costanza was 60 years old at the time of Ranuccio's death and the mother of a similarly rambunctious son, Fabrizio. It is held that Caravaggio fled to Palazzo Colonna after the death of Ranuccio.
The Colonnas owned feudal strongholds at Paliano, Marino, Zagarolo and Palestrina in the Alban Hills and Caravaggio was smuggled out of the city and into these locales. It was in this period that he painted Supper at Emmaus (1606) and St Francis in Prayer (1606). There is also some speculation that he might have also painted David with the Head of Goliath at this time.
The 1606 rendition of Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus appears in the inventory of Palazzo Patrizi in 1624 (valued at 300 scudi). It was acquired by Pinocoteca Brera in 1939 and resides there to this day. According to Bellini’s 1672 biography, this piece was painted in the Colonna palace at Paliano (as was the St Francis piece).
 |
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio,
Supper at Emmaus, 1606
(Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan;
viewed at the Caravaggio 2025 exhibition,
7/18/2025) |
|
The technique, approach, representations, light, and color have all been toned down from the 1601 version, according to godwhospeaks.uk, because of:
- The ascetic influence of his patron Cardinal Mattei
- A now-precarious existence (and the mental weight that came along with that)
- Having to paint without a studio or sufficient material.
The main differences between the two paintings are captured in the annotated 1606 representation presented below.
One source sees the 1606 Emmaus as a "sad picture, drained of the dynamism of the earlier version." It was viewed as more withdrawn, with figures no longer bursting out of the canvas.
In my view, the 1606 version is a clear reflection of where Caravaggio was in his life. The worry lines on the foreheads of the Innkeeper and his wife(?) are pretty telling and that sense of worry, doom, and gloom pervades the face of Jesus and the overall environment.
Saint Francis was an Italian Roman Catholic Friar, deacon and preacher who was consecrated by Pope Gregory IX in 1228. He was associated with animals and the natural world and, as such, is considered the Patron Saint of animals. He is also one of two designated Patron Saints of Italy (Saint Catherine of Siena is the other). Saint Francis' life of poverty and humility was a popular subject in Caravaggio's time and the artist was not himself immune to this trend; he is thought to have painted at least three pieces with the Saint as the subject.
Two of these pieces are problematic for the Caravaggio scholar. S
aint Francis in Meditation and
Saint Francis in Prayer are almost exactly the same size and both feature the Saint contemplating a skull. The painting below,
Saint Francis in Prayer, has the Saint looking to the side at the skull while
Saint Francis in Meditation has the skull positioned in the foreground.
 |
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio,
Saint Francis in Meditation, 1606
(Museo Civico Ala Ponzone, Cremona;
viewed at the Caravaggio 2025 exhibition,
7/18/2025) |
|
The problem that these paintings present is that they were never recorded so their completion dates are not known with any degree of certainty. Further, it is not known whether these are originals or copies. "A connection to Caravaggio's personal life is suggested by a 1603 libel trial in which Orazio Gentileschi testified to lending Caravaggio a monk's robe." The supposition was that the robe mentioned was the one that appears in the painting and, on that basis, the painting was assumed to have been completed sometime between 1602 and 1604.
However, "the austere composition and relatively restrained painterly technique have led some scholars ... to date the work around 1606." There is some conjecture that this painting was completed during the time that Caravaggio hid in the area outside of Rome prior to being spirited off to Naples.
