Power of Art: Caravaggio (Episode 1)

Simon Schama's Power of Art is 2006 BBC Arts Documentary series presented by Simon Schama.

The power of the greatest art is the power to shake us into revelation and rip us from our default mode of seeing. After an encounter with that force, we don't look at a face, a colour, a sky, a body, in quite the same way again. We get fitted with new sight: in-sight. Visions of beauty or a rush of intense pleasure are part of that process, but so too may be shock, pain, desire, pity, even revulsion. That kind of art seems to have rewired our senses. We apprehend the world differently. Art that aims that high - whether by the hand of Caravaggio, Van Gogh or Picasso - was not made without trouble and strife. Of course there has been plenty of great art created in serenity, but the popular idea that some masterpieces were made under acute stress with the artist struggling for the integrity of the conception and its realisation is not a "romantic myth" at all. A glance at how some of the most transforming works got made by human hands is an encounter with "moments of commotion".

Each of the eight one-hour episodes examines the biography of an artist and one of his key works through Schama's considerations and occasional reenactments. The role of Caravaggio is played by Paul Popplewell.

Episode 1: Caravaggio – David with the Head of Goliath (c. 1610)
Michelangelo Merisi left his birth town of Caravaggio in the north of Italy to study as an apprentice in nearby Milan. In 1593 he moved to Rome, impatient to use his talents on the biggest stage possible.

Caravaggio's approach to painting was unconventional. He avoided the standard method of making copies of old sculptures and instead took the more direct approach of painting directly onto canvas without drawing first. He also used people from the street as his models. His dramatic painting was enhanced with intense and theatrical lighting. Caravaggio's fate was sealed when in 1606 he killed a man in a duel. He fled to Naples where he attempted to paint his way out of trouble, he became a Knight, but was then imprisoned in Malta and then finally he moved to Sicily. He was pardoned for murder in 1610, but he died of a fever attempting to return to Rome.

Personal Note: The series is visually rich and masterly filmed. However, a lot of the stories told in this series are anecdotes, of very doubtful veracity, about artists, their patrons, and rivals. Some are just plain invention, envious gossip about the artist, like in the case of Baldanucci about Bernini. So, take it with a grain of salt, and enjoy the visuals.