Caravaggio

The school has taken its last trip to Rome for the year. It was an informal thing, most of the students had an art history project to do on their own, but they were not escorted by the faculty. Instead, Amy ans I opted to hop the train on our own and spent the day seeking out the hiding places of the paintings of Caravaggio with our friends Sam, Beth and Carolyn. Sam and Beth are our third visitors. I have known Sam for 46 years, although I have literally not seen him for the last 26 of those. We reconnected on Facebook and when I put out a general invitation to visit he confirmed I was serious and then booked his flights. He and Beth are veteran world travelers. On their last trip to Italy they saw lots of Rome as well as many other places, but wanted to visit the Borghese Museum to view the paintings of Caravaggio and the sculptures of Bernini. Amy and I haven’t been to the Borghese in 8 years, so we happily agreed. We saw a pair of his paintings during our recent trip to Malta so we decided to expand our day to visit some of the other sites where Caravaggio paintings are also on display.

So, exactly who is Caravaggio? I can’t even pretend to know much about the man or the significance of his work. I know he courted controversy his entire life. His style of painting was centuries ahead of his contemporaries. At the same time he enjoyed his cups a bit too much and was even run out of Italy (whereby he ended up in Malta) for killing someone. He later got run out of Malta for raising trouble there as well. All I really have to know is that I like his paintings.

We began our day at the Chiesa Santa Maria Dei Popolo in the Piazza del Popolo. We were unable to view the pair of paintings there as there was a service taking place, so we headed south toward the Piazza Novona and the next stop on our excursion at the Chiesa Sant’ Agostino. There we saw the Madonna di Loreto in the Cavalletti Chapel. The lighting wasn’t done all that well, but unlike many churches and museums they did allow non-flash photography.

Next we made our way to the nearby Chiesa San Luigi dei Francesi where we saw a trio of paintings chronicling the life of Saint Matthew. Again, pictures were allowed.

Following an excellent lunch we made our way north to the Villa Borghese and our 3 PM appointment at the Borghese Museum. If you want to follow in our footsteps, be aware that entrance to the museum is limited and reservations are absolutely required. We got our tickets online several weeks in advance and by the time we went  there were no more places available for the entire week. Not only do they not allow photos in the Borghese, they don’t even let cameras in. We saw nearly a dozen works by Caravaggio as well as hundreds of other paintings and sculptures. My favorite Caravaggio in the museum was what is believed to be a self portrait as Bacchus. The painting seemed to leap off the canvas at me. I also greatly enjoyed the Bernini sculptures featured in each of the first floor rooms. My favorite has to be his statue of David.

When we exited the museum we opted to stroll in the sun through the gardens and made our way back to the Flaminio subway station where we began our day. At Beth’s suggestion we took a few moments to return to the Piazza del Popolo and peek in to see if the paintings were open for viewing at Maria dei Popolo. They were and it was an excellent thing we went back. The Crucifixion of Saint Peter in the Cerasi Chapel was easily my favorite of the paintings we saw in the various churches. It is hard to say if it was my favorite overall as the lighting once again left much to be desired and we were roped off far from the painting itself so that close contemplation was not possible.

All in all, it was a most excellent adventure.