Caravaggio's Taking of Christ: Great Art Explained
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0:01 - 0:03In the turn of the 17th century
-
0:06 - 0:08the counter-reformation was at its height
-
0:08 - 0:11and the church was commissioning
hundreds of new artworks -
0:11 - 0:14to be used as powerful weapons
of propaganda -
0:14 - 0:15against the Protestant faith.
-
0:16 - 0:18Religious art had lost its way
-
0:18 - 0:22and artists were being asked to produce
emotionally engaging and intense works, -
0:23 - 0:26accessible and realistic enough
to inspire the masses. -
0:26 - 0:30Caravaggio who would rather
spend time in a tavern than a church -
0:30 - 0:32understood the masses more than most.
-
0:33 - 0:37He had arrived in Rome in 1592,
young, broke and homeless, -
0:38 - 0:41having already been in trouble
with the authorities in Milan. -
0:42 - 0:46Rome was a city where nuns and cardinals
rub shoulders with gangs and prostitutes. -
0:47 - 0:49And the new arrival would fit right in.
-
0:51 - 0:53It is impossible to separate
Caravaggio the criminal -
0:53 - 0:56from Caravaggio the painter
of sacred images. -
0:56 - 0:59One could simply not exist
without the other. -
0:59 - 1:02He inhabited a world
where honour was everything, -
1:03 - 1:05the slightest insult
needed to be revenged. -
1:06 - 1:07And the hair triggered Caravaggio
-
1:07 - 1:10would be forever
on the lookout for trouble. -
1:10 - 1:14Caravaggio broke the rules of art
as well as his life. -
1:14 - 1:16He would look at the dark side
of the Christian story -
1:17 - 1:20and include its more sordid
and unpalatable side. -
1:20 - 1:24Caravaggio's art would represent
the world as it is, -
1:24 - 1:25and not how it should be.
-
1:26 - 1:28Much to some of the clergy's horror,
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1:28 - 1:31he accentuated the poverty
and common humanity -
1:31 - 1:33of the Christ and his followers,
-
1:33 - 1:36by using ordinary working people
as his models. -
1:37 - 1:40Some of them considered to be
the scum of the city: -
1:40 - 1:44street workers, prostitutes,
beggars and rent boys. -
1:44 - 1:46He would scandalise Rome
-
1:46 - 1:49by portraying the Virgin Mary
with dirty feet, -
1:49 - 1:52Saint Peter as a terrified
and bewildered old man, -
1:53 - 1:57The church had asked for realism
and Caravaggio would give it to them. -
2:00 - 2:03The strange story of betrayal by a kiss
-
2:03 - 2:06is a subject that has fascinated
Italians for centuries, -
2:06 - 2:09The subject had been painted
by hundreds of artists, -
2:09 - 2:12but never with such brutal honestity.
-
2:13 - 2:16It is useful to compare
Caravaggio's version of the betrayal -
2:16 - 2:19with an earlier version
by an equally revolutionary, -
2:19 - 2:21but very different artist, Giotto.
-
2:22 - 2:25He gives us a more complete
and chaotic picture of the events -
2:25 - 2:27that will lead to Jesus' crucifixion.
-
2:29 - 2:31Caravaggio ignores
the peripheral characters -
2:32 - 2:35and pares it right back to the essentials,
the emotional core. -
2:37 - 2:41We are used to seeing the close-up
with the cinema and TV -
2:41 - 2:45but it was unusual in the 17th century
to have scenes cropped so tight. -
2:46 - 2:49Gioto's work is taking place
on a remote stage, -
2:49 - 2:52Caravaggio's just inches from your face.
-
2:52 - 2:55Giotto has Christ being arrested
by an army. -
2:55 - 2:58Caravaggio's looks more
like a street brawl. -
2:59 - 3:02Both versions take place at night,
as the Gospels tell us -
3:03 - 3:05"after the evening meal and prayers".
-
3:05 - 3:07Caravaggio's night-time however
-
3:07 - 3:10is a world where violence
hides in shadows. -
3:11 - 3:15There is no background, no architecture
or gardens, just darkness. -
3:16 - 3:19Only the moonlight off screen
lights the scene -
3:19 - 3:23— from left to right, the preferred
direction of light Caravaggio used. -
3:24 - 3:29It is almost like a spotlight on Jesus
and Judas and suggests divine light. -
3:29 - 3:32Although the man at the far side
is holding a lantern, -
3:32 - 3:35it is in reality an ineffective source.
-
3:35 - 3:37Then the light reflected in the armour
-
3:37 - 3:40seems to becoming
from the viewer's direction. -
3:40 - 3:45In Giotto's version, it is obvious
we are witnessing a religious event. -
3:45 - 3:48In Caravaggio's version, he asks us:
-
3:48 - 3:49"What would it be like
-
3:49 - 3:52"if Jesus looked like an ordinary man
when he was arrested?" -
3:52 - 3:54"How would we know?"
-
3:54 - 3:59Caravaggio emphasises Christ's humanity
rather than his divinity as the Lord. -
4:00 - 4:02Giotto has a huge crowd,
-
4:02 - 4:05but there are just seven characters
in Caravaggio's version. -
4:06 - 4:10He limits the mob to four men
but a greater number is implied -
4:10 - 4:12by how crowded in they are.
-
4:12 - 4:14If we lighten the picture,
-
4:14 - 4:17we can make out traces of lances,
suggesting further soldiers. -
4:20 - 4:23The main characters
from left to right are: -
4:23 - 4:26John, Jesus, Judas, a soldier,
-
4:27 - 4:29another soldier, a lamp bearer,
-
4:29 - 4:31and behind him another soldier.
-
4:33 - 4:36Both versions have him
being pulled back by his cloak, -
4:36 - 4:39referenced in the Bible
as an unnamed figure. -
4:40 - 4:44The identity of the fleeing figure
in both versions has been disputed -
4:44 - 4:47or mostly just ignored.
-
4:47 - 4:51There is no definitive answer recorded
but I think Caravaggio and Giotto -
4:51 - 4:54intended it to be John the Evangelist.
-
4:54 - 4:58John is the youngest disciple,
and so he is generally depicted beardless. -
4:59 - 5:03Caravaggio has him beardless
and wearing red and green -
5:03 - 5:05and, as we can see, these are colours
-
5:05 - 5:08often, but not exclusively
associated with John. -
5:09 - 5:11In Caravaggio's pared back version,
-
5:11 - 5:14I think John represents
all the fleeing apostles, -
5:15 - 5:18and as John was the most beloved,
he would be seen as a counterpoint -
5:18 - 5:20for Judas the betrayer.
-
5:21 - 5:24What is interesting is how John and Jesus
have identical hair, -
5:25 - 5:27and seem to be merging
together as one being. -
5:28 - 5:30Christ will go away and be crucified
-
5:30 - 5:35and John will escape and serve
as propagator and protector of the faith. -
5:35 - 5:40The image suggests that the church,
which will be represented by the apostles, -
5:40 - 5:43emanates directly from Christ himself.
-
5:44 - 5:46John's cloak is like a halo over Christ.
-
5:47 - 5:51The red could symbolise "martyrdom"
or the blood of Christ. -
5:52 - 5:55Giotto also uses the red symbolically.
-
5:56 - 6:00One of the first things that strikes you
about Jesus in both images, -
6:00 - 6:02is his lack of emotion.
-
6:02 - 6:05but, according to the Bible, Jesus knew
Judas would betray him, -
6:06 - 6:08and that — according
to Christian tradition, -
6:08 - 6:11would bring salvation to humanity.
-
6:11 - 6:13So Jesus' sorrowful reaction
-
6:13 - 6:15is one of resignation rather than shock.
-
6:16 - 6:19I think in Caravaggio's version,
Christ's acceptance is there, -
6:19 - 6:23but we also see fear
of the imminent future. -
6:24 - 6:29In Caravggio's version, Judas is a much
more nuanced and human character. -
6:29 - 6:31than the villain that Giotto makes him.
-
6:31 - 6:34His face is a powerful study
in contradicting emotions, -
6:35 - 6:38of love and jealousy, hate and pride.
-
6:38 - 6:41Judas appears haunted by what is to come.
-
6:42 - 6:46Having just betrayed Jesus, he seems
to immediately regret it -
6:46 - 6:48and grips onto him for dear life,
-
6:48 - 6:50forcing the soldier to remove his hands.
-
6:51 - 6:54Even in the Gospels themselves,
Judas is never seen -
6:54 - 6:57with the psychological complexity
that Caravaggio shows us. -
6:58 - 7:02In most portrayals, Judas either acts
under the influence of Satan -
7:02 - 7:04or out of simple greed.
-
7:05 - 7:08We see very little of any
of the soldiers features, -
7:08 - 7:11they are faceless as well as ruthless.
-
7:11 - 7:14The Roman officer's highly
polished metal clad arm -
7:14 - 7:17is placed in the very centre
of the canvas. -
7:17 - 7:20The harsh black metal serves
as a powerful contrast -
7:20 - 7:23with the vulnerable flesh
of the defenceless Christ. -
7:24 - 7:26The composition is clearly inspired
-
7:26 - 7:30by a woodcut made
100 years before by Dürer. -
7:32 - 7:35It has been suggested that the highly
reflective surface of the armour -
7:35 - 7:37serves as a mirror.
-
7:37 - 7:40Caravaggio may be holding up a mirror
to us, the viewer, -
7:40 - 7:44to remind us that theologically speaking
we are sinners by default. -
7:45 - 7:48The soldier's arm, along
with the swirling drapery -
7:48 - 7:51of John's cloak forms
"a picture within a picture" -
7:51 - 7:53emphasising the main story.
-
7:54 - 7:56Caravaggio has done this before.
-
7:58 - 8:00This is a self-portrait of Caravaggio.
-
8:01 - 8:04There have been artists who put themselves
in their pictures before. -
8:04 - 8:07But not with such a "starring role"
as a character. -
8:08 - 8:10Caravaggio does it in several paintings,
-
8:10 - 8:12most dramatically here,
-
8:12 - 8:15painted at a time when there was
a bounty on his head. -
8:16 - 8:19In 1602, he was at the height of his fame,
-
8:19 - 8:22and would have been recognisable
in the painting. -
8:22 - 8:23There are numerous theories
-
8:23 - 8:26as to why he placed himself
so prominently in the picture, -
8:26 - 8:29but we can't deny a bit of narcissism.
-
8:29 - 8:33The lamp he holds is not strong enough
to light the whole scene, -
8:33 - 8:37but symbolically, the lamp's light falls
on his own right hand -
8:37 - 8:39the instrument of his genius.
-
8:39 - 8:43In the same way, his counterpart,
John's right hand, is visible: -
8:43 - 8:45His writing hand,
-
8:45 - 8:47as the author of the book of Revelations.
-
8:47 - 8:49Compositionally, Caravaggio
-
8:49 - 8:52makes the parallels
of himself and John explicit. -
8:54 - 8:56According to counter-reformation thinking,
-
8:56 - 8:59Caravaggio, as a painter
of Christian images, -
8:59 - 9:01has a purpose in propagating the faith.
-
9:01 - 9:04And it is possible that compositionally,
-
9:04 - 9:07he is placing himself
in the lineage of Christian preaching, -
9:07 - 9:09that begins with the apostles.
-
9:10 - 9:14Caravaggio had his own reasons
for believing that redemption -
9:14 - 9:17could come to the most unlikely sinner.
-
9:21 - 9:26Caravaggio's use of "Tenebrism" or extreme
"Chiaroscuro", violent contrasts, -
9:26 - 9:28required unusual working practices.
-
9:29 - 9:33He worked in a dark room
using high lamps to direct the light. -
9:34 - 9:36He was once taken to court
-
9:36 - 9:38for knocking a hole
in the ceiling of his appartment -
9:38 - 9:40to let a shaft of light through.
-
9:41 - 9:43As we've seen in previous videos,
-
9:43 - 9:46the ground coat has a huge influence
on the finished work. -
9:46 - 9:49Unlike most artists
who used a mid-tone ground -
9:49 - 9:53Caravaggio used
a very dark red brown base. -
9:54 - 9:57We can actually make out the dark ground
on the edges of the painting, -
9:57 - 9:59where previously a frame would have been.
-
10:00 - 10:02We also see it
in the shadows and mid-tones -
10:02 - 10:05in a technique called "a risparmio".
-
10:06 - 10:09Artists were warned
that painting light tones on dark -
10:09 - 10:11— the opposite from how
most of artists work — -
10:11 - 10:13would muddy the colours.
-
10:13 - 10:15But Caravaggio used the ground
to build up shadows, -
10:15 - 10:18and show the dramatic contrast
of light and shade. -
10:19 - 10:24Infrared scans show us that unusually
he did not do preliminary sketches -
10:24 - 10:28but painted straight onto the canvas
with minimal preparation. -
10:28 - 10:31There are no drawings in existence
by Caravaggio. -
10:31 - 10:35He worked with live studio models
and would plot their positions -
10:35 - 10:36directly onto the canvas,
-
10:37 - 10:40marking the primer coat with a point
or the back of his brush -
10:41 - 10:42to make a general outline.
-
10:44 - 10:48Once he had this as his guide,
he could repose his models -
10:48 - 10:50in the same position when neded.
-
10:51 - 10:54Artits like Leonardo da Vinci
would paint slowly, -
10:54 - 10:58layer by layer, letting each coat dry
before applying another. -
10:59 - 11:01Caravaggio however would paint
extremely fast -
11:02 - 11:04while the undercoat was still not dry,
-
11:04 - 11:08and blend colours without waiting
for each application to dry. -
11:08 - 11:11Having the model he was paying in situ
-
11:11 - 11:13accounted for the speed
at which he painted. -
11:14 - 11:17For flesh tones, he would blend in
lead-white -
11:17 - 11:19in increasingly delicate strokes
-
11:19 - 11:22and for final highlights
he would use pure lead white. -
11:24 - 11:28Infrared images revealed he rarely
reworked "The Taking of Christ" -
11:29 - 11:31or changed the composition
in the painting process. -
11:32 - 11:35An exception is that a faint outline
of a second ear -
11:35 - 11:38shows that Juda's head
was originally higher. -
11:39 - 11:43"The Taking of Christ" was considered
a great masterpiece in his day, -
11:43 - 11:46but it would soon disappear
under mysterious circumstances -
11:47 - 11:49for 300 years.
-
11:51 - 11:53Although famous during his lifetime,
-
11:53 - 11:57Caravaggio was forgotten about
almost immediately after he died. -
11:57 - 11:59He simply went out of fashion.
-
12:00 - 12:03But he was rediscovered by critics
in the early 20th century. -
12:03 - 12:06and although they knew
he had painted "The Taking of Christ" -
12:06 - 12:08it had not been seen for centuries
-
12:08 - 12:11and as far as they were concerned
it was lost forever. -
12:12 - 12:16Ciriaco Mattei had commissioned
the painting from Caravaggio in 1602, -
12:17 - 12:21but by the time it was sold
by his descendants 200 years later, -
12:21 - 12:22to a Scotsman
-
12:22 - 12:25it was thought to be a copy
by Gerard van Honthurst. -
12:25 - 12:29An Irish woman was on holiday
in Scotland in 1921, -
12:29 - 12:32when she bought the painting
in an antique shop -
12:32 - 12:33and brought it home to Dublin.
-
12:34 - 12:37She later donated the painting
to Jesuit priests in Dublin, -
12:37 - 12:39who hung it in their dining room,
-
12:39 - 12:43where it would remain. gathering dust,
for the next sixty years. -
12:43 - 12:47In 1990, the priests sent it
to be restored -
12:47 - 12:51and to the art world's schock, an expert
discovered that it wasn't a copy. -
12:52 - 12:54It was in fact a genuine Caravaggio.
-
12:55 - 12:59In 1993, the long lost painting
finally went on view to the public. -
13:02 - 13:07After the murderer in Rome, Caravaggio
went to Naples, then Malta, then Sicily. -
13:08 - 13:11Everywhere he went,
he painted masterpieces -
13:11 - 13:13but he also created even more enemies.
-
13:15 - 13:19After the life on the run,
he died alone on a beach in Tuscany. -
13:20 - 13:24Caravaggio would create
profoundly spiritual work, -
13:24 - 13:26while living his life in the gutter.
-
13:28 - 13:32His paintings are compelling,
precisely because of this dichotomy. -
13:32 - 13:35They have an overwhelming truthfulness
-
13:35 - 13:38that appeals to us
on a deep emotional level. -
13:39 - 13:42Caravaggio rejected the dominant
tradition of Italian painting -
13:43 - 13:45and painted Christian scenes
-
13:45 - 13:47as if they were taking place
right here, right now. -
13:49 - 13:51In a strange parallel
of "The Taking of Christ" -
13:51 - 13:54his body also disappeared for centuries,
-
13:55 - 13:58only to be discovered in 2010.
-
13:58 - 14:02New tests showed that
it wasn't syphilis or malaria -
14:02 - 14:05or one of his many enemies
that killed him, as was thought. -
14:06 - 14:09It was lead poisoning — from his paints.
- Title:
- Caravaggio's Taking of Christ: Great Art Explained
- Description:
-
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Subscribe and click the bell icon to get more arts content. Each video takes me about three weeks to a month, so I download at least once a month:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCePD...The Taking of Christ is a painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The subject is the moment that the son of God is betrayed with a kiss, and arrested in the garden of Gethsemane.
Caravaggio’s approach to religious art was shocking and controversial in his time, his work was censored, dismissed and criticised, but it would lead to an entirely new kind of Christian art.
The intensity of his paintings was matched only by his tempestuous lifestyle.
The same year he painted this picture, Caravaggio was imprisoned for libel. A year later he was arrested for throwing a plate of hot artichokes at a waiter, a year after that, he wounded an official, and then finally, in 1606 he killed a man… and would spend the rest of his life on the run.
More than any other painter in history, Caravaggio understood what it was like to be pursued by the authorities.
CREDITS
The Taking of Christ is on permanent loan to The National gallery of Ireland, Dublin
Caravaggio's paintings used in this film are in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.
Caravaggio Techniques ©Artenet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0q2udIX0fs
Godfather Part II ©Paramount Pictures
Sunset Boulevard ©Paramount Pictures
Caravaggio ©cinevista and BFI filmsroyalty free Music by Giorgio Di Campo for FreeSound Music http://freesoundmusic.eu https://www.facebook.com/freemusicfor... https://youtube.com/freesoundmusic original video: https://youtu.be/IwBYlLnzYtc download mp3: https://link-to.net/49870/RockAroundT...
Intro music: Maria Callas sings "Casta Diva" (Bellini: Norma, Act 1)
"Theme" music: JS Bach “Sonata for violin solo No.1 in G Minor”
All the videos, songs, images, and graphics used in the video belong to their respective owners and I or this channel does not claim any right over them.
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
- Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 14:12
Margarida Ferreira edited English subtitles for Caravaggio's Taking of Christ: Great Art Explained |