The Romans and Wine: Taking a good thing and making it better

The Romans possessed an exceptional capacity for taking "good things" and making them better and, according to Professor Elizabeth Lev, this characteristic was manifested in spades in the wine world.

The Greeks were responsible for the creation of the wine culture in Italy. They named the southern portion of the peninsula Oenetria -- "the land of the tamed vines", according to Professor Lev. They also brought some of their native varieties to Italy. Aglianico, for example, is widely held to be a Greek transplant, with the Italian name being a transformation of Hellenistico (Greece was known as Hellas).

The Romans did not get involved in serious wine drinking until about the 3rd century when they developed a bread culture. Prior to this period, the main Roman dish was a porridge-like concoction called puls, which was served during cena, the main meal of the day. Adoption of bread-based meals began in the 3rd century and with it the rise of bakeries and wine drinking.

The Greeks had historically grown their grapes along the ground or trained in trees. The Romans developed the Pergola which lifted the vine off the ground, allowing greater access to the sun for all parts of the berry as well as allowing wind to dry out the vines after rainfall.

The Greeks and Egyptians had historically trod their grapes to extract the juice. The Romans adopted this practice but also added mechanical means of pressing the juice from the grapes.

The Romans  were the first to distinguish between first and subsequent pressings with the third press set aside and, in many cases, given to the slaves.

The Romans were also the first to (Professor Lev):

• Understand vintage differential
• Serve wine in glassware
• Work on wine storage (both in terms of where and length).

The Romans also preferred white wines to red with Livia Augusta attributing her long life to a daily tipple of Pucinum, a forerunner to today's Prosecco.

The most famous of the Roman wines was Falernian, a sweet, high-alcohol, late-harvested wine. According to Professor Lev, this wine was made from the Aglianico grape but another source claims that it was made from Falanghina while two others give that honor to the Aminean grape. This wine was highly prized and priced. Professor Lev spoke of the Opimian vintage of 121BC which was served at a Julius Caesar banquet in 60BC.

Wines for the masses were flavored with chalk, seawater, honey, etc. The wines served to aristocrats were first boiled-down in lead-lined pots, the process concentrating the wine by 1/3 or as much as 1/2, depending on the preference. Boiling in the lead added a specific sweetness to the wine but also poisoned the drinkers. Gout and dementia are symptoms of lead consumption, conditions manifested in many of the Roman rulers of this period.

By 50AD, Romans were consuming an average of one bottle of wine per person per day. The Vesuvius eruption created a major secondary crisis in that it took out a significant portion of the Empire's best vines. This led to a panic in 79AD where folks were ripping out grain in order to plant vines. 

Unlike the Greeks, the Romans were far less interested in moderation. And this extended to their praise of the beverage. Romans loved to "talk, write, and wax poetic" about growing grapes and drinking wine. Major historical figures such as Cato, Horus, and Pliny the Elder have all contributed to the body of work from this period.

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Book Review: The Love Songs of W. E. B. DuBois by Honoreé Fannone Jeffers

Honoreé Fannone Jeffers' The Love Songs of W. E. B. DuBois is a literary tour de force. 

The book has a significant historic-fiction component, as the early threads of the family tree began pulling themselves together in the "place between the tall trees" -- the place that would come to be called Chicasetta in the state that would come to be called Georgia. Land stolen from the Creek Nation by treaty, and then by force, and worked by Black slaves brought from across the Atlantic and, when that trade was banned, from other slave states, or brought back (escapees or otherwise) from the Northern states.

And these disparate threads would culminate in the three children of Maybelle Lee as laid out by the author in the very early phases of the book. But it was information provided too early to be anything but confusing; so we moved along.

But this book is more than historical fiction. The second thread contained within the covers is a coming-of-age/coming-to-grips/fictional memoir/self-realization/finding-her-roots story centered around Ailey, the final addition to the family tree and the youngest of three daughters of a "light-skinned" black doctor and his "darker-skinned", stay-at-home wife. This family lived in an urban setting but, given their roots, the mother and daughters returned to Chicasetta annually for summer holidays. This thread revolves around family secrets, childhood sexual abuse, "it takes a village" to raise a black child, meeting family expectations, finding something you actually love doing, and genealogical detective work.

There is a third thread here which, even though encapsulated in the Ailey story, sticks out for me, having, as it does, a cultural anthropology bent. It is the story of education and scholarship in forward-leaning black households/communities. It began early in this book with the discussion of school choices for Ailey in her Elementary and High School years and continued into her choice of college. And the pressure here was applied by parents and relatives who saw Ailey as being Doctor material and, in order to realize their goal, she had to attend certain schools. The anthropological nature of this space is further highlighted by the author's coverage of black college culture (with the sororities and the fraternities). The thread continues through to the academic side once Ailey becomes a researcher and begins her interaction with folks on that side of the college coin.

This is a multi-faceted effort, to say the least. The lift becomes heavier in that the material is not presented in a continuous fashion. Rather, the multiple threads of the historic fiction is interspersed with multiple threads of the Ailey stories at random times and in randomly sized chunks.

Further complexing the initiative is the author's "pass the mic" approach to perspective. It is brilliant in that it fleshes out the stories fully and reveals the wizardry of the author in that she dons the mantle and convincingly tells the stories of different races, ethnicities, and age groups in different temporal intervals. Even trickier, she tells some stories of the same person at different stages in their development. In that the reader becomes accustomed to this construct, the book suffers when it is not utilized. For example, the historical family members who went off to Boston lost their voices, with their stories eventually excavated by Ailey and clarified by her Uncle (Root). But it did not have the same vibrancy and depth. In wine terms, it was not persistent.

This is an ambitious, female-centered, narrative from a story teller who is comfortable spinning complex yarns. But I am even more impressed by the breadth and depth of her research and her ability to exploit same to build robust literary structures within which her characters are seamlessly deployed. The author delves into topics as far afield as black incorporation into indigenous tribes (a topic with some currency), slavery in the south, the slave trade (both across the Atlantic and intra-US, the abuse of slave bodies by master and overseer alike, the dehumanizing sexual trauma experienced by black female slaves and the resulting further male emasculation, sharecropping, and more currently, country life, colorism, life for young black college students, and black scholarship. And the author does not just place the characters into historical settings; rather, she weaves them into the fabric of their times.

This is the initial fiction effort by the accomplished poet and essayist Honoreé Fannone Jeffers and it is immense in scope and size; 797 pages to be exact. In her NPR interview, Ms. Jeffers indicated that she had the book sold at 400 pages but took another almost 400 pages and 2+ years to complete the effort. This book is worth your time. Pay special attention to the Acknowledgments and Archival Coda at the back of the book -- they are informative in their own right as to the genesis and research directions pursued. Take notes as you read book, especially when new characters are introduced. It will prove helpful, especially if you have to lay the book aside for a while.

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A study of Agostino Carracci's The Last Communion of Saint Jerome

The Last Communion of Saint Jerome is considered the greatest work of Agostino Carracci -- the eldest brother of Annabile Carracci and founding member of the Carracci Academy -- and a clear illustration of the Carricci philosophy in opposition to Mannerism. I evaluate the painting in this post.

The Last Communion of Saint Jerome, 1592 - 97 
Agostino Carracci

The Subject

The painting depicts the Last Communion being given to Saint Jerome by Saint Eusebius. It is based on one of three apocryphal letters from Eusebius to the Pope wherein he "recounts" the administration of the Eucharist just prior to Jerome's death.

Saint Jerome (347 - 420) was born in Dalmatia (modern-day Croatia) but moved to Rome during his teenage years. He was baptized as a Christian in Rome and, thereafter, embarked on a life of religious study, writing, translation, and ascetism. Included in his accomplishments were the roles of advisor to Pope Damasus I and the translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible (the New Testament from Greek to Latin and the Old Testament from Hebrew to Latin). Jerome relocated to Palestine on the Pope's death and set about establishing monasteries for men and and women while living, studying, and writing in his cell.

The Artist

Agostino Carracci started out as a goldsmith's apprentice but turned to painting and was trained, initially, by Prospero Fontano, and then by Passerotti and Domenico Tibaldi. He worked as a reproductive engraver in the late 1570s and visited Venice and Parma in the 1580s before returning to Bologna to aid in the founding of the Carracci Academy.

Agostino and his brother Annabile returned to Bologna tours of Northern Italian painters and collaborated with their cousin Ludovico in the formation of an academy focused on teaching art. The Carracci used the academy to "promote the idea that art should draw directly from nature for its study," an idea that was a direct refutation of Mannerism's focus on complexity and artificiality. 

The key innovation for the Carracci was the melding of the design characteristics of Florentine art with the colors of Venetian art and their naturalism into a style that was characterized by clear, simple, direct imagery. This style comported well with the guidelines established by the Council of Trent and was enthusiastically endorsed in Rome. It is thus no coincidence that the Carracci came to dominate the religious art scene and their works began to show up in many churches, chapels, and cathedrals.

They worked together on the Palazzo Fava in 1583 and the Palazzo Magnani in 1590-92.

The Painting

The painting was commissioned in 1590 by Certosa di Bologna, a former Carthusian monastery located just outside the city walls and dedicated to Saint Jerome. 

The painting is centered on a blue-and-gold-robed Saint Eusebius preparing to administer the Eucharist to an emaciated Saint Jerome who is, in turn, being supported by two monks. I have annotated the painting in the figure below in order to highlight my observations.

The Last Communion of Saint Jerome, 1592 - 97 (annotated) 
Agostino Carracci

The representation falls well within the high-renaissance tradition, in keeping with the Carracci refutation of the Mannerist style. It also adheres to the dictates of the Council of Trent by telling a religious (-associated) story simply and clearly (The apocryphal nature of the underlying story may be a departure from the Trent strictures, however.).

The picture was very naturalistic in its representation of the figures (a Carracci feature) but did not show the vibrancy of color, another attribute of their style.

Other Treatments of this Topic

Sandro Botticelli and Domenichino both painted versions of this topic.

Sandro Botticelli

Botticelli's version was painted between 1494 and 1495, 100 years prior to Carracci's effort and during the time when he was painting religious rather than mythological subjects.

The scene is set in the mid-ground of a church-like structure which is open on the side facing the viewer. As in the case of the Carracci effort, there are two groups, but the number in each group is smaller in this case. The figures in the composition, as in the Carracci case, take up about one-half of the vertical space. The composition falls within the framework of an upturned bowl. Further, Saint Jerome is attended by monks while Saint Eusebius is attended by Altar Boys. 

The symbolic candles and Cardinal's hat are included in the painting. The figure of Jesus on the Cross is almost hidden in the palm fronds jutting upwards from the altar. The painting also includes a great representation of differential textures in the fabrics between the two saints. 

The Last Communion of Saint Jerome,  1494 - 95
Sandro Botticelli

Domenichino

The Domenichino effort was painted approximately 20 years after Carracci's version. This work was commissioned by the congregation of San Girolamo and was Domenichino's first public commission for an altarpiece. He was paid 254 scudi for the effort.

There is a degree of similarity between the two paintings, some of which is masked by the differing color scheme and the reversal of the figures. 

Domenichino had been a student of the Carracci in Bologna and had traveled to Rome along with a number of other students to assist Annibale Carracci in the painting of the Farnese Gallery frescoes. One of those students -- Giovanni Lanfranco -- accused Domenichino of stealing ideas for his painting from the Carracci painting.

The Last Judgment of Saint Jerome, 1611 - 14
Domenichino

Painting Provenance

This painting was taken -- along with works by Antonio and Bartolomeo Vivarini and Ludovico Carricci -- to Paris by Napolean. Upon its repatriation, it was deposited in the Pinacoteco Nazionale.

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Annabile Carracci and the Farnese Gallery frescoes

Palazzo Farnese, first designed for the Farnese family, and expanded when Alessandro Farnese became Pope Paul III in 1534, is one of the most important High Renaissance palaces in Rome (It currently serves as the French Embassy, having been loaned to the French for 99 years beginning in 1936.). Annabelle Carracci, founding member of the "Carracci Academy" was invited to Rome in 1594 to decorate the study of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese and to paint the ceiling of the Farnese Gallery. 

Why was Annabile invited to Rome? 

First, the Carraci had developed a new painting style which accorded with the views and objectives of the Catholic Church. The key innovation for the Carracci was the melding of the design characteristics of Florentine art with the colors of Venetian art and their naturalism into a style that was characterized by clear, simple, direct imagery. This style comported well with the guidelines established by the Council of Trent and was enthusiastically endorsed in Rome. 

Second, this new style had brought fame to the Carraci, especially Annabile. The Carracci came to dominate the religious art scene and their works began to show up in many churches, chapels, and cathedrals. They worked together, for example, on the Palazzo Fava in 1583 and the Palazzo Magnani in 1590-92.

Third, connections. According to Vodret and Granata (Not only Caravaggio), "Even though (Pope) Innocent ruled for only two months (ed., November 3 to December 31, 1591), he found time to develop closer ties with Alessandro Farnese and Paolo Emilio Sfondrati, who were, as Morselli observes, very important points of reference in the careers of Annibale Caracci and Guido Reni."

Annibale traveled to Rome in 1595 and decorated a small chamber called Sala d'Ercole rather than the study. In 1597 he was commissioned to decorate the barrel-vaulted gallery on the palace's main floor. The frescoes were ordered in celebration of the wedding between Ranuccio Farnese and Pope Clemente VIIIs niece Margherita Aldobrandini. The contract allowed for food-related expenses to be deducted from the overall contract cost. The design called for mythical figures -- rather than the religious scenes that were more in vogue at that time -- in order to comport with the Farnese antique art collection.

Annabile invited his brother and cousin to join him in Rome to work on the commission. Ludovico was comfortable working with the students at the Academy in Bologna and opted to remain there. His elder brother Agostino joined him but they could not get along so he left.

The work was created in large part between 1597 and 1601 but was not finalized until 1608. According to Vodret and Granata:

Annibale painted the vault of the gallery with "various emblems representing war and peace between sacred and profane love as described by Plato" ... mythological scenes were inserted into a fictive architectural framework that combines marvelously sculptural and naturalistic elements, medallions, and framed pictures that represent a joyful series of stories about the loves of the gods, culminating in the nuptial scene the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne. Ingeniously inspired by Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine chapel, Carracci's vault is a festive counterpoint, and with its luminous colors, and the naturalistic handling of fleshy figures and airy horizons, it points to the exuberant expressivity of the Baroque.

Selected aspects of the frescoes are shown in the following frames.

The Loves of The Gods on the vaults of the Farnese Gallery
Annabile Carracci, 1597 - 1601

Farnese Gallery, 1597 - 1608
Annabile Carracci and studio

Farnese Gallery, 1597 - 1608
Annabile Carracci and studio

The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne, 1597 - 1608
Annabile Carracci and studio

Polyphemus and Galatea, 1597 - 1608
Annabile Carracci and studio

According to Vodret and Granata,

The frescoes on the gallery walls (1602-3), which are connected thematically to the ceiling, were painted by Carracci's excellent students, including Domenichino and Lanfranco. These and the other Bolognese artists who came to Rome to study with Annabile and to work with his shop achieved what was almost a monopoly on all the large-scale fresco commissions in Roman villas, palaces, and churches in the first decades of the seventeenth century.

In this effort Annibale "introduced a new grand manner of fresco painting" which was "ranked  alongside The Sistine Chapel and Raphael Rooms as the greatest achievement of monumental fresco painting. This new style paved the way for the new idiom of Baroque painting" (visual-arts-cork.com). The unveiling of the ceiling in 1601 brought great acclaim and demand for Annabile's work.

Most painters working in Rome at that time were either flashy, or aggressive, or both. Annabile was neither. He was rather retiring and a poor dresser. The Cardinal did not approve of his demeanor and looks and was very disrespectful to him during the course of the project. Annibale did not take visible offence and kept his head down and the work going. The culmination of the effort was too much for him to bear though. At the completion of the effort the Cardinal subtracted the food costs and paid Annibale a paltry sum.  Annibale fell into a deep depression as a result and ceased painting. Rather, he would do sketches which would then serve as the basis for paintings from his students. Annibale died in 1609.

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The roots of the anti-Mannerist, proto-Baroque, Bolognese School (1590 - 1630)

The Council of Trent (1545 - 1563), in its attempts to blunt the effects of the Protestant Reformation, issued a number of decrees, including one which welcomed religious imagery as an aid in religious teaching. According to witcombe.sbc.edu, the religious imagery employed in this manner was expected to exhibit:

• Clarity, simplicity, and intelligibility 
• Realistic interpretation
• Emotionally stimulate piety.

While the church was open to the use of painted works to communicate religious messages to the masses, it did not conceive of the then-dominant painting style -- Mannerism -- as being up to the task. Post-1550 Mannerism exhibited (witcombe.sbc.edu):

• Virtuosity of execution and highly decorative surface qualities go with compositional decentralization and spatial and coloristic complexities
• Deliberate physical and psychic ambiguities puzzle the beholder
• Intricacies of handling are often matched by the intricacies of content
• Many pictures and fresco cycles of the period are obscure and esoteric 
• Little power to stir religious emotions in the mass of the faithful
• Lacked clarity, realism, and emotional intensity.

The images below show the difference between Correggio's Noli Me Tangere -- done in the High Renaissance style -- versus the Mannerist representation by Bronzino. 

Noli me Tangere, c. 1525
Antonia da Correggio

Noli me Tangere, 1561
Agnolo Bronzino

Painting in the Late Mannerist style (1550 - 1580) represented "an extraordinary decline in quality" from the High Renaissance. The movement which stepped into the breach was the Bolognese School (c.1590 - 1630), an "anti-Mannerist" art movement founded by the Bolognese-based Carracci family. "Ludovico Carracci and his cousins led the charge in the greatest reform of artistry since Cimabue and Giotto, and the first reactionary art Revolution in Western Art History" (The Carracci and Caravaggio Revolution: Foundations of the Baroque, forums.civfanatics.com). Lets take a look at the family and the fruits of their activities.

The Carracci

Ludovico was the oldest of the trio that included him and his two cousins: Annabile and Agostino. Ludovico was initially apprenticed to the painter Prospero Fontano who, after some time, sought to dissuade him from pursuing that career track because he did not "have the nature for it." Ludovico was not dissuaded, however, and went off to study on his own, traveling through North and Central Italy to study the works of Renaissance painters such as Andrea del Sarto (Florence), Parmagiannino (Parma), Giulio Romano (Mantua), and Titian and Tintoretto ( Enice).

Annibale Caracci's father was a tailor in Bologna. Due to the family's financial circumstances, Annibale was forced to leave school at the age of 11 to begin an apprenticeship with a goldsmith. His training while there included learning to draw and it soon became apparent that he was very talented; so much so that his apprenticeship was switched to the Mannerist painter Bartolomeo Passerotti.

In 1580, Annibale took off on a study tour of northern Italy, stopping in Correggio's studio in Parma and then moving on to Venice where he met up with his brother Agostino. In Venice they studied the works of the painters Titian, Veronese, Giorgione, and Tintoretto and marveled at their mastery of color and light. 

Agostino also started out as a goldsmith's apprentice but turned to painting and was trained, initially, by Prospero Fontano, and then by Passerotti and Domenico Tibaldi. He worked as a reproductive engraver in the late 1570s and visited Venice and Parma in the 1580s before returning to Bologna to aid in the founding of the Carracci Academy.

The Carracci Academy

The Carracci brothers returned to Bologna and collaborated with their cousin Ludovico in the formation of an academy focused on teaching art. The Carracci used the academy to "promote the idea that art should draw directly from nature for its study," and idea that was a direct refutation of Mannerism's focus on complexity and artificiality. The genesis of the school is illustrated in the chart below.

The key innovation for the Carracci was the melding of the design characteristics of Florentine art with the colors of Venetian art and their naturalism into a style that was characterized by clear, simple, direct imagery. This style comported well with the guidelines established by the Council of Trent and was enthusiastically endorsed in Rome. It is thus no coincidence that the Carracci came to dominate the religious art scene and their works began to show up in many churches, chapels, and cathedrals.

They worked together on the Palazzo Fava in 1583 and the Palazzo Magnani in 1590-92. In 1594 Cardinal Farnese invited Annibale to Rome to work on Palazzo Farnese and commissioned him in 1597 to work on the frescoes for the Gallery. He was joined by Agostino for this effort.

Lamentation of Christ, c. 1582
Ludovico Carracci

Annunciation
Ludovico Carracci

Madonna and Child with Saints, 1586
Agostino Carracci

The Lamentation, 1586
Agostino Carracci

The Butcher’s Shoo, 1583
Annibale Carracci

The Bean eater, 1580 - 1590
Annibale Carracci

Rest on the Flight into Egypt, 1600
Annibale Carracci

Pieta, 1599 - 1600
Annibale Carracci

Landscape with Flight into Egypt, 1604
Annibale Carracci

In his trial in Rome, Caravaggio identified Annibile as one of the 10 best artists in Rome at that time. And it is easy to see why. in addition to his life studies and drawings, Annibale was accomplished in frescoes, a style that evaded Caravvagio. In addition, Annabelle was accomplished in genre scenes and landscapes.

In future posts I will explore the Farnese Gallery frescoes, the legacy of the Carraccis, and the role of the Carracci students in the overall influence and impact of The Bolognese School.

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Catholic Counter-Reformation Art (1560 - 1700)

The Catholic Church had been set back on its heels by the Protestant Reformation -- the "16th-Century religious, political, intellectual, and cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe" (history.com) -- and responded with the Council of Trent (1545 - 1563) and its decrees countering the Reformist agenda.

One of the areas addressed by the Council was art and its role in Catholic Christian life. The dominant style of art at that time was Mannerism but Catholic leaders found this style to be lacking in pious appeal. Religious art of the time, according to the Church:

• Had lost its focus on religious subject matter
• Was too much focused on decorative qualities 
• Was too influenced by classical pagan art.

Examples of this diminished focus on religious subjects, and elevation of style, are demonstrated in Parmigianino's Madonna of the Long Neck and Pontormi's The Deposition.

Madonna of the Long Neck
Parmigianino, 1530 - 33

The Deposition from the Cross
Jacopo Pontormi, 1525 - 28

Michelangelo's The Last Judgement "... came under persistent attack in the Counter-Reformation for, among other things, nudity (later painted over for several centuries), not showing Christ seated or bearded, and including the pagan figure of Charon" (Wikipedia).

The Last Judgment, 1534 - 41
Michelangelo

The interpretations of the art-related dictates issuing from the Council of Trent were as follows:

• Art was to be direct and compelling in its narrative presentation
• It was to provide an accurate presentation  of the biblical narrative of the saints' lives, rather than adding anecdotal and imaginary moments
• It was the duty of all painters to proclaim and explain the truths of the Catholic religion.

Scipione Pulzone's Lamentation was viewed as a work that gave "a clear demonstration of what the holy council was striving for in the new style of religious art ... the focus of the painting giving direct attention to the crucifixion of Christ, it complies with the religious content of the of the council and shows the story of the passion while keeping Christ in the image of the ideal human" (Wikipedia).

Lamentation, 1589
Scipione Pulzone

The Church, the newly formed Jesuits, and wealthy individuals began commissioning works to support this new direction and were provided strong support in Italy, Spain and its colonies (Flanders and Naples), and southern Germany. This new direction is reflected beginning with the efforts of the Bolognese School which itself became a forerunner of the Baroque. I will cover The Bolognese School in my next post on this topic.

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Orazio Gentileschi: The life and art of a transitory Carravagiste

In an earlier piece on this blog I detailed how the Caravaggisti thread flowed through Italian adherents to Utrecht, carried there by Dutch painters returning from sojourns in Rome. In this series, I will cycle back to the Italian Caravaggistis, beginning with Orazio Gentileschi.

Portrait of Orazio Gentileschi, c. 1630
Lucas Emil Vorsterman after Sir Anthony van Dyck

Orazio was born in Pisa in 1563, son to a Florentine Goldsmith named Giovanni Battista Lomi. He moved to Rome in either 1576 or 1578 and took up residence with a maternal uncle whose surname -- Gentileschi -- he adopted.

There is no widely accepted account as to how Orazio acquired his painting skills. His first mention as a painter was as part of a team of artists decorating the Vatican Library in the period 1588 - 1589. He subsequently worked with the landscape painter Agostino Tassi painting frescos in the churches of Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni Laterano, and Santo Nicolosi in Carcere. This work ran from 1590 - 1600 and Orazio probably contributed figures for Tassi's landscapes.

During this period Orazio was considered a "competent but undistinguished practitioner of the dominant late maniera style."

San Giovanni dei Fiorentino --Interior 
Attributed to Orazio Gentileschi

San Giovanni dei Fiorentino --Interior 
Attributed to Orazio Gentileschi

Exposure to Caravaggio's works led to major changes in Orazio's life and painting styles. According to Keith Christiansen and Judith W. Mann (Orazio and Artemisia Genteleschi, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, 2001):

Orazio's encounter with Caravaggio in the summer of 1600 was the central event of his life. Prior to the unveiling of Caravaggio's canvases showing the calling and martyrdom of Saint Matthew (ed., see below) in the French national church of San Luigi dei Francesi, which created a sensation by making the Lombard artist's work publicly visible for the first time, Orazio had painted in a style that was predicated on compromise and accommodation. His figures were types, his composition conventional; his color was slack. There is a blandness, an anonymity, and a disturbing lack of conviction to his work of the 1590s that comes (sic) as a shock to those who know only his distinctive, post-Caravaggesque pictures.

The Calling of St Matthew, 1599-1600
Caravaggio

The Martyrdom of St. Matthew, 1599-1600
Caravaggio

Orazio became a close associate of Caravaggio, and "unexpected and bold" development in that he was married, the father of four kids, and, at 37 years of age, 11 years older than the oldest of the followers. That being said, his paintings post-1600 began to incorporate elements of the Caravaggio approach (NGA, Christiansen and Mann):

• Use of models
• Dramatic lighting
• Simplified compositional structures with a restricted number of figures close to the picture plane
• Use of dramatic, unconventional gestures and monumental composition
• Uncompromising realism and contemporary representation of figure types.

In the paintings immediately following, Orazio's movement away from Mannerism and incorporation of Caravaggic elements are on full display.

St Francis supported by an Angel, c. 1603
Orazio Gentileschi

David and Goliath, 1605 - 1607
Orazio Gentileschi

Circumcision of Christ, c. 1605 - 1610
Orazio Gentileschi

St Michael and the Devil, 1607 - 1608
Orazio Gentileschi

R. Ward Bissel (Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1967) saw the foregoing paintings as Orazio seeking to find his own way of expressing Caravaggism: "Having explored these alternatives, Gentileschi chose to work towards increased refinement of sentiment and of pictorial effects, and, in so doing established himself as the most original painter among the Roman Caravaggeschi."  Young Woman with a Violin characterizes this moment. It is pure Caravaggio in the placement of a single figure against a dark background with the individual illuminated by an intense light.

Young Woman with a Violin, c. 1612
Orazio Gentileschi

It was during this period that Orazio formed a relationship with the painter Agostino Tassi to collaborate on the frescos in the Casino delle Muse for Cardinal Scipione and in the Sala del Consistorio in the Quirinale Palace. The partnership came to a scandalous end when Orazio accused Tassi of "deflowering" his daughter (and student) Artemisia.

Following the scandal, Orazio actively began seeking work outside of Rome. This led to commissions in Fabriano in 1616-17 and he then accepted the invitation of a Genoese nobleman to work for him in that city. He resided in Genoa from 1621 - 1623. Post that period he became primarily a court painter, traveling to Paris to work with the court of Marie de Medici (1624 - 1626) and then on to the court of Charles I in London. He died in London in 1639.

Somewhere around 1615 his painting style also changed. According to the National Gallery of Art, he "developed a Tuscan lyricism foreign to Caravaggio's almost brutal vitality" and this was reflected in a lighter palette and a more precise treatment reminiscent of his Mannerist beginnings. In the NGA article, Sydney Freedberg is quoted thusly: "Orazio passed beyond dependence on the art of Caravaggio into a powerful and highly personal style, for which the prior assimilation of Caravaggio was a threshold." His masterpiece -- Annunciation -- was created during this post-Caravaggio period.

Annunciation, c. 1623
Orazio Gentileschi

Even though Orazio backslid, he still enjoys special prominence when discussions arise re Caravaggisti active in the first two decades of the 17th century. He was the first to respond to the shift but he also influenced others, notably Bartolomeo Lavarozzi (1590 - 1625), Orazio Riminaldi (1593 - 1630), and Giovann Francesco Guerreiri (1589 - 1655/1659), Italians all. He also influenced Hendrik Terbruggen who the took the style back to Utrecht. But, by far, his most prominent student was his daughter Artemisi who I will cover in my next post in this series.

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