SiB Test 1 Information

What started the Counter-Reformation?

The Council of Trent (1545-63). (It was called by Pope Paul III, who was a Farnese.)

Describe decorum

Modesty, propriety, appropriateness

What was Caravaggio’s real name?

Michelangelo Merisi

Who was Caravaggio’s main patron?

Cardinal Francesco del Monte. (He was an ambassador for the Medici family)

Three men wrote biographies on Caravaggio. Name them and describe their profession as well as the contemporariness of their biographies.

Giulio Mancini. He was a doctor who treated Caravaggio. The biography came out in 1617-21, only 6-10 years after Caravaggio’s death.

Giovanni Baglione. He was a rival of Caravaggio and the two actively hated each other. His 1642 biography was slanderous.

Giovanni Bellori. He was a painter and art critic who published his biography in 1672, so it was the least contemporary.

What did Bellori say about Caravaggio? Who did he like better? Why did he write specifically about these two artists?

Bellori praised Caravaggio for bringing art back to nature as opposed to the previous style of mannerism. He said, however, that Caravaggio didn’t idealize his work enough.

Bellori preferred Annibale Carracci over Caravaggio.

He specifically wrote about Caravaggio and Annibale as they worked in Rome.

What is the phrase for painting directly on canvas instead of sketching it first?

Alla prima

Over the top, incredibly extra, lavish eccentricity

Stravagantissimo

What was the only painting Caravaggio signed? How did he sign it? Who did he paint it for?

Beheading of St. John the Baptist. He signed it in John’s blood. He made it for the Knights of Malta because he wanted to join the order.

Where is Caravaggio’s series on St. Matthew?

The Matthew Contarelli Chapel. It was a commission by his heirs.

What painting(s) by Caravaggio were censored? Why?

Saint Matthew and the Angel. The painting was rejected by the church for depicting St. Matthew as looking uneducated and the angel looking too sensual. It was replaced by the Inspiration of Saint Matthew.

Death of the Virgin. The painting was rejected for its breach of decorum. Mancini thought that Mary was modelled after a prostitute, possibly Caravaggio’s mistress. Baglioni and Bellori thought it was more to do with the fact she looked like a bloated corpse rather than the Holy Mother. It was replaced by a painting of the same name by Carlo Saraceni.

What does pentamenti mean?

Changes

Why did Caravaggio flee Rome? Why did he flee Malta? How did he attempt to return to Rome?

He left Rome because he killed a man (possibly on accident, possibly on purpose). He was sentenced to beheading and a bounty was put on him. He fled to Naples and then to Malta.

In Malta, Caravaggio attacked and wounded another man, likely an aristocrat. He was imprisoned before escaping and fleeing to Sicily, and then back to Naples.

He sent the painting David with the Head of Goliath, to his patron and nephew of the Pope in hopes for a pardon. He depicted himself as Goliath, symbolically beheading himself to fulfill the bounty.

Who were the Carracci? What did their fathers do? How did the oldest become a painter? What did he encourage the others to do?

The Carracci were (cousin) Ludovico, (brothers) Agostino, and Annibale. Ludovico was the son of a tailor and Agostino and Annibale were the sons of a butcher.

Ludovico became a painter by studying with local painters. He encouraged Agostino and Annibale to travel and learn.

Who was Malvasia? What did he write?

Malvasia was a scholar and art historian. He wrote Felsina Pittrice (“Bologna the Painter”). He wrote about Bolognese painters and included a long biography about the Carracci, especially focusing on Ludovico. This was to spite Bellori who only wrote about Annibale but snubbed his cousin and brother.