Portrait of a genius

Imagine a character that frequents prostitutes, goes around armed and gets into a fight as fast as you can say on your mark.

A role model for such a character would be Caravaggio, one of the greatest European artists of all time. And, yet, Caravaggio was a genius who painted fast and furiously.

Sandro Debono, Heritage Malta's senior curator at the National Museum of Fine Arts, in Valletta, said in an interview that Caravaggio was a product of his times.

Heritage Malta will be holding an exhibition of paintings by Caravaggio at the Museum of Archaeology in Republic Street, Valletta, between the last week of this month and November, marking the 400th year since the great artist sojourned on the island.

The exhibition, which bears the title Caravaggio: L'Immagine Del Divino, will feature at least nine works by Caravaggio and will be open between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.

According to Mr Debono, the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 gave the Roman Catholic Church a sense of triumph, particularly in the Mediterranean when the Ottoman naval supremacy was restrained. On the other hand, the Council of Trent, held between 1545 and 1563, helped the Church to consolidate its stand on its doctrine, halting the haemorrhage created by Protestantism.

Caravaggio (1571-1610) was a product of the effects that these major events had on Europe - a sense of relief coupled with a concerted effort by the religious establishment to return to basics as far as Catholic religious belief went, Mr Debono added. This is the environment that nourished Caravaggio to produce such powerful realism in his paintings.

Caravaggio's real name was Michelangelo Merisi but he was known as Caravaggio after his birthplace, a northern Italian town close to Milan.

"Caravaggio reviewed history and religious belief with new eyes and brought about a great change in the manner he treated nature.

"For example, in his commission for the Contarelli chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, his first major public commission, Caravaggio painted the call of the apostle Matthew by Jesus as if the episode were taking place in the early 17th century.

"Caravaggio painted Matthew at table in a seemingly Roman tavern being called by the Lord."

In his titular for the same chapel at San Luigi dei Francesi church produced a few months later, he shows Matthew as an illiterate man, holding a massive tome with one of his hands while being guided by an angel to help him write his gospel legibly.

"This, however, was too much of a realistic streak for those who commissioned the painting and Caravaggio had to do another titular.

"Caravaggio was a trouble maker and Milan, where he went to study, was known for the production of arms.

"When he went to Rome, his ability to enter the networks of influential personalities put him in good stead."

It was through this skill that he came under the protection of, for instance, Cardinal Francesco Del Monte, a highly-cultured prelate.

"Caravaggio had his own gang of trouble makers. They were like Mafia hoodlums and it was Caravaggio's difficult character that stood out most of the time.

"His tempestuous trait led to his killing a man over a game of tennis.

"Contemporaries suggest that his challenging to a duel the Papal knight Giuseppe Cesari spurred him to seal a closer contact with the knights of the Order of St John."

His realism, underscored by his innovative use of light, is amply shown in his magnificent works.

In the Martyrdom of St Catherine, his model was Fillide Melandroni, a notorious prostitute with whom he probably had a close relationship but who was also the protégé of Ranuccio Tomasoni, another tough guy whom he (Caravaggio) was later to kill in Rome.

Following his flight from Rome to Naples, Caravaggio ended up in Malta, soon gaining the attention of Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt.

Wignacourt appealed to Rome - the Order of St John fell under the jurisdiction of the Pope - asking for a one-off dispensation to allow Caravaggio to join the Order at the lowest rung - he could not aspire to anything better because he was not of noble birth. It was mainly his talent and ingenious artistic inventiveness that earned him membership of the prestigious brotherhood.

"This was a stroke of luck for Malta because Caravaggio painted what many consider to be his best canvases - the Beheading of St John is acclaimed as his masterpiece while also being the largest canvas he ever painted. It must have been his pride since it's also the only one he signed.

"Caravaggio's mastery is evident in this painting; it is innovative in composition with the event happening to the side of the canvas and not taking centre-stage as is common practice. "This is no run of the mill martyrdom scene - the Baptist is already dead and his head - the prize for Salome's prodigious dance - is about to be sheared off.

"Others would have probably opted to paint the precursor of Christ being readied for the kill."

The irony was that Caravaggio was expelled from the Order in the oratory of the conventual church of St John in Valletta where the painting was (and still is) housed... in front of his own masterpiece. "Probably the oratory still reeked of fresh paint then. The artist had got involved in a brawl, was arrested and imprisoned at Fort St Angelo."

"The question that springs to mind is: If the Church or any other patron were to commission an artist today who would get his inspiration from the same sources as Caravaggio, would his work be accepted and gain recognition?"