Scum Choir

Art Life & Lives Caravaggio-Carnival and Lent (It's not up to you)

Added 2023-05-22 02:00:01 +0000 UTC

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) is the subject of this second installment of Art Life & Lives (hit me with a better title suggestion if you got one.)

The idea of these is to reflect on some of the wisdom or insight I find in these books before the information evacuates my brain.

This one ended up being more biographical than I plan to make these videos, but I couldn't help talking a lot about his life because it's so wild.

He was born into religious turmoil, plague, and poverty. Decided to become an artist, was a horrible student, likely murdered someone, moved to Rome. Essentially taught himself to paint and went from homeless to the most famous painter in Rome. Painted sacred religious masterpieces by day and brawled in the streets and raised hell in the bars at night. Until one of the latter altercations led to his dramatic downfall.

In that meteoric rise to power and dramatic downfall, Caravaggio's life almost follows the structure of the classic Hollywood gangster film genre.

I kept seeing analogies to films like Goodfellas, and to Gangster Rap in Caravaggio's life and times.

But I also talk about a small but powerful piece of life advice I got from a painting teacher that I kept being reminded of while reading the book.

Recommended Books/Works:

Andrew Graham Dixon's Biography of Caravaggio A Life Sacred and Profane This was the main source of what I talk about in the video. I recommend the audio book version. the narrator has a great voice and tells the story in an engaging way.
I also recommend the Taschen's Complete Works of Caravaggio. This is a beautifully designed book full of vivid reproductions of all of Caravaggio's known work.
Taschen also makes a smaller more affordable version if your on a budget, tight on space, or a Caravaggisti on the go.