Michelangelo Caravaggio: Student of the Northern Renaissance

In order to understand art, art historians categorize and group art and artists based on formal and historical analysis and the connections therein. By examining artistic conventions for specific ideals and how those ideals are represented formally, art historians can describe a specific categorization: an artistic lineage. In many cases, an artistic lineage involves a group of artists learning from a master. However, much like the Caravaggisti were influenced by Caravaggio, direct contact and instruction is not always necessary to develop an artistic lineage. When it comes to Caravaggio's own artistic lineage that led to the creation of his masterpieces, both direct contact and indirect influence play an important role. There is a direct correlation in the presentation of humility as the path to experiencing and accepting the divine between Caravaggio and Rogier van der Weyden, a student of Robert Campin.

In his article entitled "Expressive Aspects of Caravaggio's First Inspiration of Saint Matthew," Troy Thomas outlines the importance of Caravaggio's presentation of Saint Matthew as humble in order to receive the grace of the divine.¹ This humility seems to be present in many of Caravaggio's pieces, and not reserved for Saint Matthew alone, although the sense of Saint Matthew's humility, when outlined by Thomas, is more obvious than in some of Caravaggio's other pieces. However, when one considers selected paintings by Rogier van der Weyden, the humility present in Caravaggio's pieces becomes equally clear. Weyden was known to have visited Rome during his life, and is it likely that an exchange of ideas regarding representation occurred.² Much of Caravaggio's career was centered in Rome, thus it is not unreasonable to deduce that Caravaggio saw at least some of Weyden's influence. Friedlander writes that Weyden's Entombment "was probably known both to San Filippo and to Vittrice..."³ Caravaggio's knowledge and admiration of San Filippo Neri is also outlined by Friedlander in the sixth chapter of his book, thereby pointing to Neri as the connection between Caravaggio and Weyden.

Caravaggio's Penitent Magdalene shows Mary Magdalene as having discarded her jewels and earthly possessions. She sits with her hands folded in her lap, close to the ground, with her face turned down on an angle. She looks as though it is possible she might be asleep; such is the depiction of her peaceful state. Although her skirt completely covers her legs from the viewer's eye, it is clear from the way that Caravaggio painted the folds and flow of the fabric that her ankles are crossed. Troy Thomas writes, of Matthew in the first Inspiration, "[His] bowed head and crossed legs indicate his intensity in reading and also his humility in accepting aid from the angel."⁴ Thomas points out, formally, Caravaggio's representation of Saint Matthew in his humility. Every artistic convention has an origin, and when considering religious art, one needs only to look to the religion of that art to find the origin of the artistic conventions represented therein. Because of the methods of crucifixion as practiced by the Ancient Romans, the one being crucified must at least cross his or her ankles, because only one nail is used to secure the feet to the cross. Christ was, and remains to be, the epitome of humility, having lived a humble life as an example to his followers. By using the position of crossing one's legs or especially ankles, as Campin, Weyden and Caravaggio do, one is shown as humble because Christ was humble, and Christ was forced to cross his ankles at the most humble moment of His life on Earth: His Crucifixion, when He is said to have given His life for the sins of mankind.

In Weyden's Mary Magdalene, Mary is represented sitting close to or on the floor, reading, with her face angled down and like Caravaggio after him, Weyden shows the viewer that Mary's ankles are crossed beneath her skirts through his formal representation of the folds of fabric. Weyden may have developed this method of showing humility from Robert Campin, his predecessor and teacher, who, in his Annunciation, showed the Virgin Mary sitting in the same fashion as Weyden's Mary Magdalene. The Virgin sits facing the viewer, reading as she sits close to the floor. Once again, it is visible from Campin's treatment of the fabric of the skirt that the Virgin Mary has her ankles crossed. Caravaggio did indeed, as with all of his paintings, add his own artistic style, but his compositional depiction of Mary Magdalene strongly reflects the previously established conventions of representing humility in a sitting female figure by artists of the Northern Renaissance, such as Rogier van der Weyden and his instructor, Robert Campin, before him.

Humility is also to be found in paintings involving the story of Christ's death. Caravaggio's Entombment shows humility through several different elements. The idea of being barefoot is found in many of Caravaggio's works where humility represents the path to the divine as well as in earlier pieces, such as Weyden's Entombment of Christ. In both pieces, a male figure in red stands barefoot upon the stone that is to cover Christ's tomb while in physical contact with Christ's body. This imagery of being barefoot upon the stone that covers Christ's body is a depiction of being close to divinity through humility, just as when Christ is entombed, the closest one can be is to touch the stone that covers the tomb, and since to be barefoot is to show poverty and thus humility, both Weyden and Caravaggio tell the reader that humility is the path to experiencing the divine.

Another similarity in the demonstration of humility between both Caravaggio's and Weyden's paintings of Christ's Entombment is manner in which many of the figures faces are angled downward, as discussed above, representing humility. In both paintings, there is also a figure who is instead looking upward, with her arms outstretched, although Caravaggio shows this to a much greater degree and creates a focal point for the viewer's eye whereas Weyden chooses to not emphasize this element as much as Caravaggio, but Weyden does show the figure to be kneeling which sets her aside from the other figures who are standing. Weyden paints Christ as being held upright as well, perhaps to emphasize the kneeling figure as well as to show that Christ, according to Christian doctrine, will rise again.

One of the qualities of Baroque Art, and especially of Caravaggio's paintings, is that the artist utilizes the ability to invite the viewer into the situation of the painting. In his scene of Entombment, Caravaggio accomplishes this feat by showing that Christ's tomb is actually on the viewer's side of the picture plane.⁵ By doing this, Caravaggio invites the viewer not only to be a part of the painting, but also to experience that divine interaction through humility as suggested by the humility of the figures in the painting. Weyden does not accomplish this to the same extent as Caravaggio, however, both artists show the stone that is to cover the tomb angled so that the corner draws the viewer's eye into the piece.

Aside from Caravaggio's representations of Saint Matthew, discussed by Thomas Troy, the culmination of Caravaggio's painted message of experiencing the divine through humility culminates in Madonna di Loreto. In this painting, the humble and poor pilgrims kneel at the step to La Casa di Loreto and experience a vision of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child. Their humility is shown through their appearance and position. Barefoot and adorned in clothes that have been clearly worn for at least several days of their journey, the pair of pilgrims kneel with their hands placed together in humble prayer. The Virgin is shown standing before them, her ankles crossed as another sign of humility, gracefully gazing down to the pilgrims along with Christ.

This painting can be linked to Campin's work as well, specifically to his Annunciation. The left panel of this triptych shows the patrons kneeling at the doorway to the room in which the Virgin Mary sits reading while being visited by the angel Gabriel. While Campin did not depict them in travel worn clothing and it is not clear whether or not they are barefoot, the patrons do kneel at a set of steps before an open door, hands clasped in prayer. This depiction was without a doubt influenced by the wishes of the patrons, but the idea of encountering the divine through humility is still present. Caravaggio may have been responding to this depiction in his painting Madonna di Loreto, perhaps chiding the patrons, or even Campin for painting them wearing clothes that, while may not be the epitome of finery, are not as humble as the clothes worn by Caravaggio's pilgrims.

Caravaggio is well known for his use of chiaroscuro to create intense and emotionally moving pieces. There are many differences between his work and the artists that came before his time. However, while Caravaggio did incorporate his own unique and powerful style, there is evidence that he was inspired by Rogier van der Weyden when it came to the representation of humility as a path to the divine. Since the Renaissance, the exchange of ideas spread past Italy's borders and there have always been noted similarities between works of the Italian Renaissance and works of the Northern Renaissance. Just as the influence of Caravaggio and the Caravaggisti spread past the northern Italian border through the Alps to the Flemish region after Caravaggio's death, so did the influence of Northern Renaissance painters spread southward into Italy and of course, to Florence and Rome where, after the Renaissance, artists of the Baroque Period such as Caravaggio could observe and incorporate the methods of artistic representation into their own works and style.

Notes:

1. Troy Thomas, "Expressive Aspects of Caravaggio's First Inspiration of Saint Matthew," The Art Bulletin, December 1985, v. LXVII, no. 4, 636-652. Thomas uses writings of and about scripture as well as ideals of the Oratorians to promote that Caravaggio's paintings, especially the first Inspiration was not meant to insult the Saint but rather to display his humility as a path to divine grace and input.
2. Olga's Gallery, "Rogier van der Weyden," (May 2006). This website provides general biographical information on the artist Rogier van der Weyden.
3. Friedlander, W., Caravaggio Studies (Princeton/Schocken, 1972) pp. 117-28; 234-36.
4. Thomas, p. 645. (See note 1)
5. See note 3, Friedlander. Friedlander also discusses the compositional placement of the stone, but emphasizes discussing the stone as the "stone of unction" and as referenced in the Old and New Testaments.

Works Cited

1. Friedlander, W. Caravaggio Studies (Princeton/Schocken, 1972), pp. 117-28; 234-36.
2. Olga's Gallery, "Rogier van der Weyden," (May 2006).
3. Troy Thomas, "Expressive Aspects of Caravaggio's First Impression of Saint Matthew," The Art Bulletin, December 1985, v. LXVII, no. 4, 636-652.