Has Caravaggio Replaced Michelangelo?

[Allie McCoy]

I have not been to Italy in several years. Have those of you who are there or have gone there noticed this ascendency of Caravaggio? http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/arts/design/10abroad.html?hp

[Kimberly Kradel]

When I first went to Italy, Caravaggio had not yet been "discovered". He was barely mentioned in my Italian Art History class in university. I remember seeing his work here and there in a few museums in Rome and wondered who he was. It was not long after that trip that it was noted in the press that Caravaggio had been "discovered" and that he would rival the great masters of his time.

I don't think he will overtake Michelangelo as the icon he is. Michelangelo has a lot more work on record, and he worked in both painting, sculpture, and architecture. Whereas Caravaggio painted a lot and got into a lot trouble. I think Caravaggio was more a master of light/dark and conflict within his work than he was the master of recreating the figure.

If you are reading this thread and don't know who Caravaggio is, here is my short history of the man

[David Paul Appell]

Interesting you should raise this particular question, Allie -- and thanks, Kimberly, for your analysis! My own observation is a bit more personal. A couple of years ago, you might say I nearly lost my life because of Caravaggio. And it was due to the fact that my mom and dad had recently taken a continuing-ed class in art history at highly respected Bard College in New York's Hudson Valley, in which this artist definitely made a big-time impression on them.

And so when I took them on a trip Italy a couple of years ago, I thought we'd have yet another grand round of Medicis, Michelangelo and macaroni (sorry, I'm an editor and alliteration addict). Anyway, that was all well and good, and indeed came to pass, but the folks had some other ideas, too. As in, they launched into a mission in Rome to see every square inch of canvas the dude ever laid his hands on. So we found ourselves dashing from church to church, dodging nuns and schoolkids and other Caravaggio-crazed tourists -- but I must admit, our hunt did give what would have been yet another garden-variety trip to the Eternal City a pretty interesting twist.

Unfortunately, for the Holy Grail of our visit, the Madonna dei Palafrenieri in the sumptuous Villa Borghese, we needed time-specific tickets, and none were available until the day before my folks' flight home. We did what any red-blooded American tourists would do: we bought the tickets, took our excursion up to Umbria and Emilia-Romagna, then, on the last day of our trip, proceeded to hurtle down the highways in a rental car with no working horn (need I say, a real challenge in Italy). I'd sworn to leave the car on the outskirts of Rome and take the train in, as I've always felt that only fools and madmen drive in that city, but the clock was ticking on Caravaggio, and so that wasn't an option.

So it was that I found myself frantically dodging Vespas that swarmed around our car like flies on speed, while three hysterical passengers each shouted conflicting directions at me. It was, I can safely say, the longest, most harrowing drive of my life. Finally at the Villa Borghese, literally FIVE MINUTES before they shut the mighty doors, we were able to convince the guard that we really meant to just check the Caravaggios in the entrance hall, and they'd be rid of us. With a classic Italian shrug, the dude let us in, and we were finally able to lay our eyes on the unnaturally luminous image of Baby Jesus stomping on a snake and so forth. And as a bonus, afterward I even managed to talk my dad and myself into the closed museum shop to buy the catalog ("loro sono venuti dall'America solo per vedere queste opere di Caravaggio!" I begged).

A suitable coda to a grand and very memorable family trip.

So, hmm, has Caravaggio overtaken Michelangelo? Can't really say -- but on this family on this trip, I'd have to say: Michel-who?

[Kimberly Kradel]

Maybe the question would Michel-which? Because they are both Michelangelo/s! (Michelangelo Buonarotti and Michelangelo Caravagio)

The first trip I took was in the mid-80s. Finding work by Caravaggio was hard, because he wasn't in the guidebooks like Michelangelo and Bernini and Raphael and Botticceli. Every time I saw a Caravaggio I was taken aback and it also became a chase (hunt) for me as well.

I guess next time I'm in Rome I'm going to have to find some other undiscovered artist to chase around town!

[Allie McCoy]

David, your story is so vivid and funny that I am going to show it to my son, who worked three years in Italy, this weekend when he visits for Easter. And Kimberly, thank you for the link to your article. I knew a little about Caravaggio, but you know many things, and I was fascinated. I cannot get to Italy at the drop of a hat, but I am now curious to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art again in New York so I can see its Caravaggio's.