Caravaggio and Christ -by Robert Fullarton

Caravaggio and Christ

-by Robert Fullarton

Copyright Robert Fullarton

With the current exhibition of Caravaggio’s work on display in Ireland’s National Gallery in Dublin, I decided to write a short piece on the momentous inspiration this artist has given me over time.

Though Caravaggio’s life is one of mystery, of violence, a suspected murder, a hot headed and sensual man, a man on the run from local authorities, who according to some died a violent death, assassinated by the Knights of Malta, a different side of Caravaggio can be imagined and to some extent be seen through pious faces, heroes of faith, that make the Biblical characters very real to the modern day art lover.

His oeuvre displays his mastery of shadow and light, giving the faces of his subjects a great appeal which makes them look photogenic, realistic in the proportions of the human form and showing Christ in human form, with all the tempests of human emotion and expression. His work is truly one of the finest expressions of Baroque art, along with the works of Rembrandt, Rubens and Vermeer. He follows the tradition of Michelangelo, to a certain extent, but his portraits are more human and dramatic often for me than those of Michelangelo, or say Titian, Mantegna and Da Vinci, as Jesus Christ, appears to be less covered under a holy halo, but he is shown through his human form, in depictions of suffering, of eating amongst friends, of common everyday happenings and in such he has a personal appeal, to the believer, to the sinner to human dimensions of empathy. I must state that the Taking of Christ, is truly one of my favourite paintings and is one of the greatest paintings undertaken on the life of Jesus Christ, its brooding, dark subject, fills the viewer with a pathos, previously undiscovered and re-tells the narrative of Christ’s betrayal and eventual crucifixion with human agony, it captures the suffering God-man and Sacrificial lamb on the path to Calvary. We are visual creatures, art allows us to visualise the proportions of the past, of the Bible, making such content come alive and when executed well it is a testament to the entire Christian artistic culture and legacy, which is deeply personal to the believer!