Fauno hall wpe3A.jpg (837 byte)

This room is situated on the Ground Floor of the Museum
ragazzo1.jpg (16381 byte)

Yuoth with Fruit by Caravaggio

 Cardinal Scipione Borghese valued and promoted the talent of Michelangelo Merisi from Caravaggio, as well as many other contemporary maecenas. His collection had twelve Caravaggio’s paintings. Now this room has only six of them. The boy with the fruit hamper and The self-portrait as Bacchus were painted when the artist came from Lombardia to Rome and worked for some enlightened collectors.
In his first works Caravaggio reveals a great concern for realism, together with the study of the relationship between light and shade, which will characterize St. Matteo cycle, in the Roman church of St. Louis of the French (1599-1601). This is the first public property and a very popular painting by Caravaggio, even though it was censured by Roman Church, who was shocked by its themes.

Caravaggio led a violent and adventurous life. He painted marvellous paintings, such as Saint Girolamo (1605-1606) and The Palafreniers’ Madonna(1 605), originally made for St. Peter’s Church. The Church disliked the Madonna being painted as a common Roman woman and the painting returned to the artist who sold it to Cardinal Borghese. The painting is currently under repair.

In 1606, Caravaggio killed a man and was forced to leave Rome. He went to Naples, Sicily and Malta to avoid jail and beheading. During this time, he painted some very dramatic works such as David with Goliath’s head (1609-10) where Goliath’s winced head is actually the self-portrait of the so desperate artist.

Caravaggio was granted his life by the Pope,because of his friendship with Cardinal Scipione, and decided to come back to Rome, sailing from Naples. Unfortunately, he did not arrive .Having harboured at the Argentario coast, probably due to fatigue and illness, he died at Porto Ercole in 1610.

palafrenieri.JPG (15113 byte)

DIDASCALIA: A life in change for two paintings

lt is said that Caravaggio was granted life by the Pope thanks to the intervention of his friend Cardinal Scipione. According to the historian Calveri, Cardinal Scipione, - who obtained in exchange for Caravaggio's life David with Goliath's head and St. John the Baptist -, actually interfered with the Roman Church to buy at a lesser rate Caravaggio's paintings that she refused.