2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
Michelangelo Caravaggio - Baroque painter. His skill in operating with light and applying shadows, as well as maximum realism combined with the tragic expression of the characters, bring the master to the fore. Caravaggio received recognition during his lifetime. The popular artist was invited to paint canvases by the rich and powerful families of Italy. He had his students and followers who tried to paint in the same manner. They are called "caravagists". Such inheritance gave rise to a large number of supposedly "author's copies". And the painting "Kiss of Judas" is no exception. An interesting story happened to one of them in Odessa. Read about it, as well as about the original painting in this article.
Christ's Detention Theme
In the Middle Ages, frescoes and church paintings were the "Bible for the illiterate." But about the last days of Christ, the descriptions of the Gospels differ. John states that Jesus Himself went out to meet the armed band and asked, "Whom are you looking for?" And when He introduced himself, those who came to arrest Him “fell to the ground” (Jo. 18:6). Three other evangelists tell a very different story. DetachmentThe soldier brought Judas to the Garden of Gethsemane. There were no documents with photographs then, and Christ looked like James the Younger (in the Gospels he is also called the brother of Jesus). Therefore, the agreement was this: whoever Judas kisses, that one must be arrested. This theme of betrayal has been addressed by many artists, starting with Giotto. The fresco of this master in Padua has become a Christopher example. Thus arose the tradition of depicting Judas always in profile and with a black halo. But the picture of Caravaggio makes us take a different look at the events that happened two thousand years ago.
History of writing
Approximately in 1602, the aristocratic Roman family of Mattei invited a fashionable artist at that time. The family owned a small art gallery. The merchants wanted at all costs to get the creation of a popular master. Caravaggio settled in Mattei's palace and received a deposit for his work. The theme for the picture, presumably, was ordered by one of the members of the family - Cardinal Girolamo. And it was written in record time - in just thirty days. But the master received an unprecedented fee for the work - one hundred and twenty-five skudos. Caravaggio's painting "The Kiss of Judas" has long been a gem in the Mattei family collection. It is known that the master made his own copies of his successful works. In addition, he was echoed by the students of his school. Now there are twelve canvases that repeat the original.
Composition of the canvas "Kiss of Judas"
The picture of Caravaggio is written on an elongatedcanvas. The artist's innovation is manifested in the fact that the figures of people are depicted not in full growth, but in three-quarters. Caravaggio remains true to himself in his play with light. The main radiance comes from a source invisible to the viewer, which is located in the upper left corner. But there is also a smaller light - a lantern, which is held by a young man on the right. Two sources, echoing each other in the darkness of the night, give the whole action a special tragedy. One arm of Judas is somewhat shortened. This immediately catches the eye, since the rest of the figures are made with amazing realism. Insufficient skill of the artist? Art critics believe that this is a conscious step. So the artist wanted to show the moral deformity of a person who raised his hand to his Teacher. Therefore, the canvas is called not “The Taking of Christ into Custody”, but “The Kiss of Judas”. Caravaggio's painting focuses on the theme of betrayal. The last days of Jesus fade into the background.
Caravaggio's painting: lost and found again
The Mattei family owned the painting for about two hundred years. Over time, fashion changed, brutal realism and a whirlwind of baroque passions gave way to idealistic, antiquity-copying compositions of the era of classicism. The painting by Caravaggio has lost its authorship in the documents of the Mattei family. When the descendants of this family began to experience financial difficulties, they decided to sell this painting. The painting was bought by a member of the English Parliament, Hamilton Nisbet, as a work by the Dutch artist Gerard van Honthorst. In 1921, the last representative of this Scottishkind, and the canvas under the same authorship was bought at auction by John Kemp. He resold it to Irish Mary Leigh-Wilson, who in 1934 donated the painting to the Jesuit Consistory in Dublin. Since the canvas needed restoration, the monks invited specialist Sergio Benedetti from the National Gallery of Ireland for this work. He identified the true author. Now the canvas can be seen in Dublin, at the National Gallery.
Odessa copy
When there was a fashion for Michelangelo Caravaggio, the paintings of this master were copied both by himself and by his students and followers. The sample, kept in the collection of the Museum of Western European and Oriental Art in Odessa, was commissioned by the brother of the owner of the original, Asdrubal Mattei. This is evidenced by the entry in his accounting documents. Already ten years after the death of the famous master, he paid for the copying of his creations to the Italian artist Giovanni di Atilli. The Odessa Museum, having acquired the painting from the Mattei family, insisted that it was the original. This is probably what caused the theft. The Odessa canvas was stolen in July 2008. However, two years later, the painting was seized from the hands of criminals in Berlin.
Mysteries of the painting
The work of Caravaggio is fraught with many secrets that have not yet been disclosed by researchers. And The Judas Kiss is no exception. It is believed that in one of the characters, a man with a lantern in his hands, the artist captured himself. And in this self-portrait there is nothing of vain vanity. Rather, on the contrary: the artistpromotes the idea that all mankind, and he too, are guilty of the Passion of the Christ.
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