St John The Baptist – (Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi)) ◄ predchádzajúca Ďalší ►

umelec: Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi)

štýl: Baroque

Témy: Religious Saints

technika: Oil

A number of paintings have been attributed from time to time to the Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610), but are no longer generally accepted as genuine. Immensely popular in his own lifetime, he fell into neglect almost immediately upon his death, with the result that now, four hundred years later, it's often extremely difficult to distinguish works by the master from copies or from original creations by his most gifted followers. The John the Baptist from Basle has many of the stylistic marks of Caravaggio - the use of deep shadows, the isolated youthful Baptist - but is not widely accepted as genuine. A comparison with Carlo Sellitto shows how well the more gifted of Caravaggio's followers absorbed not only the superficial tricks of style but the underlying ethos as well, to the point of becoming virtually indistinguishable from the work of the master. The Basle Baptist, despite being a very attractive painting in its own right, is a quite forthright and traditional piece of Counter-Reformation iconography (the Baptist is holding out roses, symbol of the Passion, before the sheep, representing Christ's future sacrifice), and has none of the deep pathos and ambiguously mingled sensuality and spirituality that Caravaggio brought to his long contemplation of John the Baptist.