Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio: David with the head of Goliath
Duration: 10 mins 42 secs
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About this item
| Description: | Preacher: The Rev'd Duncan Dormor, The Dean |
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| Created: | 2008-10-22 10:24 |
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| Collection: | Michaelmas Term 2008 10.30am Sung Eucharist Sermon Series - Talking Art: Secular and Sacred |
| Publisher: | University of Cambridge |
| Copyright: | The Rev'd Duncan Dormor |
| Language: | eng (English) |
| Abstract: | Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) revolutionized the painting style of his period and is considered the first great representative of the Baroque school. His radical naturalism which combined close physical observation with a dramatic, even theatrical, use of light and shadow was perfectly suited to the spirit of the Counter-Reformation. However, his first commissions for Cardinal Francesco del Monte were greeted with controversy as well as acclaim, because of their realistic nature. His reputation as an artistic rebel was compounded by his real-life personality and fearsome temper. After several arrests, he eventually fled Rome having killed an opponent who disputed the score in a game of tennis. Producing some of his best work, including ‘David with the Head of Goliath’ in exile in Malta , he died suddenly in 1610.
On display in the Galleria Borghese in Rome , ‘David with the Head of Goliath’ is tentatively dated c.1609 and its melancholy tone would suit the gloomy thoughts of the artist's final years. The subject matter recalls the ‘Beheading of St John the Baptist’ in La Valetta but this time there is no brilliant colour and, as a small picture, it has an intimacy that was not evident in the grand public work. Instead dirty silver, black and browns dominate the picture. The boy handles his trophy with disgust. "In that head [Caravaggio] wished to portray himself and in the boy he portrayed his Caravaggino", wrote Manilli in 1650. If Goliath's head is indeed Caravaggio's, there is an element of self disgust in this painting. The device recalls Michelangelo's ‘Last Judgement’, with its anguished self-portrait imposed on the flayed skin of St Bartholomew, but there are contrasting moods: whereas the Michelangelo-Bartholomew is called towards the light of salvation, the Caravaggio-Goliath, God's enemy, is doomed to everlasting night. Meanwhile on the sword is the abbreviated moralistic inscription, H-AS OS, humilitas occidit superbiam or “humility kills pride”. |
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