This Thursday we will be discussing early seventeenth-century art in the context of the Counter-Reformation, the movement on the part of the Catholic church to revive religious art in the face of the Protestant attacks fomented by Martin Luther a century earlier. Two artists in Italy, Caravaggio and Bernini -- in the media of painting and sculpture respectively -- exemplify the kinds of religious artworks created in this new Counter-Reformation context, as well as a new dramatic approach to representing narrative. Comparing Caravaggio's painting of "The Conversion of Saint Paul" blinded by the light of God and fallen beneath his horse with Bernini's sculpture of "Saint Longinus" in the choir of St. Peter's in the Vatican, what do you notice to be common features and approaches in both artists' works? You might compare/contrast the portrayal of the body, gesture, and the use of light, as well as the different media used by the artists.
Saint Paul's conversion, from Acts 9:1-6 (note that Saint Paul's original name was Saul):
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats
against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and
asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found
any there who belonged to the Way [i.e. Christian believers], whether men or women, he might take
them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey,
suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and
heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who
are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Christ, whom you are persecuting,” he
replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be
told what you must do.”
In comparing Caravaggio’s painting of “The Conversion of Saint Paul” with Berini’s Sculpture of “Saint Longinus,” there are similarities in the poses of the two subjects. The figure at the bottom of the painting and the sculpted figure are both reaching their hands up towards the sky. In Caravaggio’s painting, he uses a tenebristic effect to create drama, with a spotlight on partially reveled figures contrasted by the intense darkness of the background. The figure on the bottom is reaching his hands up towards the light similarly to the way Berini’s “Saint Longinus,” is reaching his hands up. Both artists a literal or implied light source in order to heighten the drama of the works of art and to suggest divine light.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, there is a parallel in the poses of the two central protagonists of Caravaggio's and Bernini's works, and both use light as a means of furthering dramatizing this already expressive gesture.
DeleteBoth Caravaggio and Bernini display a great concern for portraying naturalism and human emotion in their pieces. The way Longinus's drapery suggests the outline of the body below it and seems to flow, weightlessly as if frozen in a moment of time, reveals Bernini's skill as a sculptor. Similarly, Caravaggio's concern for naturalism in his depiction of a foreshortened body, painted with such skill and attention to detail that it looks realistic. Both works of art exist in a decontextualized space, Bernini’s is literally a free standing sculpture of an individual and Caravaggio decontextualizes the space in his canvas, allowing the viewer to understand the narrative in a boiled down, simplified manner and also to imagine the conversion of St. Paul happening in our own space. Caravaggio’s painting is much more calm and still as compared to Bernini’s sculpture. Caravaggio captures a dramatic moment of conversion, we are drawn to St. Paul’s face, by the strong diagonal arc he forms with his outstretched arms. As the viewer we also see the strong diagonal that cuts across the canvas, the divine light that shines down on St. Paul. Paul sees and we feel intimately involved in the narrative, with him, aware that he is the only figure who sees the light (the horse and the man do not respond to the dramatic light in any way). Drama is conveyed in this work so that we are drawn into the action and emotion of the scene but we are not overcome by its movement or drama; but rather, St. Paul’s eyes are closed, he is caught up in the drama of his own, personal moment. Caravaggio invites us to place ourselves in the scene and meditate on its significance. Bernini’s sculpture of Longinus is much more active, Longinus throws his arms open and presents himself to us, we are struck not by his humility (as we are with Caravaggio’s St. Paul) but by his grand presence and monumentality. The sculpture itself sits atop a large base and the average viewer is dwarfed by this figure. In Bernini’s sculpture, Bernini uses gesture not to invite us to quietly, inwardly contemplate religion but to activate and empower religion in a very different, and much more blatant and active, approach to creating dramatic effect.
ReplyDeleteNatalie does a really excellent job describing the differences between these two works both in terms of their medium and the implied movement of the figures, which is indeed more dramatic in Bernini's upright Longinus actively gesturing towards heaven.
DeleteIf we compare Caravaggio's painting of "The Conversion of Saint Paul" with Bernini's sculpture of "Saint Longinus" we can notice a few common features and approaches in both artists' works. Firstly, we notice that both use a strong sense of dark and light to add a heightened sense of drama to the narratives. Caravaggio of course does this with an extremely dark background, large dark shadows, and a few pointed lights that guide the viewer to the hoof of the horse and St. Paul’s head. Bernini also uses strong darks, lights, and shadows but by having large cavities in the marble and varying the relief of the marble. For instance, within the cloth there is a large cavity around where the sash is held, giving more volume, whereas there are more subtle carvings on the chest to give the plane as a whole more light and pull our eye up to Longinus’ face. Both pieces accurately convey the human body, clearly showing us every hair and tendon, with muscles carefully molded. Interestingly enough, the dramatic aspect of the pieces is also conveyed by the dynamic poses of the figures themselves, with limbs extended, spines arched, and both have faces turned upward. In fact, the narratives both are describing are religious stories from the Old Testament (Paul) and the New Testament (Longinus) that are key in the idea of repenting and turning back to God – an important theme of the Counter Reformation to gain back believers from Luther and strengthen the faith of the Catholic Church.
ReplyDeleteSavannah brings up a great point, namely that both Saint Paul and Longinus were initially non-believers in Christ, and as such, the dramatic representation of their conversion and turn towards divine light in both these works is directly related to their personal narratives.
DeleteBoth artists show their interests in creating a theatrical and dramatic effects, however, with different medias. Therefore, their ways of creating this effect appears to be distinct as well. Caravaggio worked with oil. He was able to create contrast with colors. He painted the background black, and the figures' skin a yellowish color. The yellow and black creates a huge contrast. The brightness of St. Paul's red attire also adds a sense of excitement and tension to this painting.
ReplyDeleteDifferent from Caravaggio, Bernini worked with marbles, and different colors were not applicable for him. However, he created dramatic effect through different depths of relief. This is especially evident in his meticulous depiction of the drapery. When light reflect on the marble sculpture, there will be shadows on the drapery. It not only satisfies Bernini's attempt to create dramatic effect, but also adds a sense of movement to his sculpture and makes it more naturalistic and visually appealing.
Additionally, we can see that both artists paid close attention to the figures' musculature. The artists attempted to convey the tension and power inside the figures, and also their emotions, which is evident through the dramatic facial expressions of the
Sherry makes a simple yet crucial point that it is remarkable to note how much life and drama Bernini is able to convey *without* color and using only the monochrome medium of marble.
Deletefigures appear in both artworks. This also embodies the Baroque artists' interest in both human's ethos and pathos.
ReplyDeleteIn both works, the primary male figures have their arms spread wide, in a very dynamic stance. Both also have strong diagonals, the horse's body creating a diagonal in Caravaggio's work and the man's arms creating the diagonal in Bernini's work. Light plays a more prominent role in Caravaggio's painting than in Bernini's sculpture, the light highlighting the horse and the man on the ground. However, the way that Bernini sculpted his piece does cause shadows to fall on certain parts of the figure, primarily due to his clothing.
ReplyDeleteNice additional point about the strong diagonal orientation of both compositions! This adds to the sense of implied movement discussed above.
DeleteA common feature of both artworks is the subject matter being (re)introduced to god and religion. With arms outstretched, the main subject matter in both artworks shows that they are open to embracing new ideas and thoughts. The body position is very vulnerable, with arms wide opened. The men are not in a protective stance, which would be with arms covering the core of the body or ready to fight. This shows how the person is at the mercy of god. Although both body positions are similar, Caravaggio shows a man blinded by the light of god and having fallen because of it. The revolution was so great that the man could no longer support himself. He is in full surrender. Bernini’s sculpture has a man standing upright. Thus, he is also embracing god but less submissive.
ReplyDeleteAudrey is absolutely right that we see these two figures in different moments in their conversion process. Caravaggio's St. Paul has just fallen from his horse and not yet seen the "light" of God, so to speak, whereas Longinus is shown by Bernini after his conversion as a Christian saint in full embrace and awareness of divine presence.
DeleteThere are definitely several similarities between these two artworks. Firstly, both artists use light which comes from the upper part, which suggests its divinity. Secondly, both figures are reaching their hands out, seeming to embrace the divine light, which indicates conversion and salvation. Finally, Caravaggio and Bernini similarly stress the power of natural force. Saint Paul is blinded by the light and we can get a sense that Saint
ReplyDeleteSherry's observation that both saintly figures are impact by "the power of natural force" is really interesting, especially since -- as we discussed -- Bernini made use of real natural light in the space of the St. Peter's choir and in the Belvedere palace to animate his sculptures.
DeleteBoth Caravaggio and Bernini use folded and ruched fabric in their respective works. In the sculpture of “Saint Longinus,” Bernini includes large amounts of folded fabric, which drape dramatically around the mass of the figure’s torso to his feet. Bernini demonstrates his ability as a sculptor by depicting, quite realistically, the curvatures of fabric in an unforgiving material such as marble. The prominence of the fabric draws the viewers attention to its detail. Similarly, Caravaggio includes naturalistic portrayal of fabric in the Conversion of Saint Paul. The fabric is lesser in scale than in Bernini’s sculpture, however it is visually prominent in color; red directs the eye toward the folds which extend into the lower left corner of the painting. Perhaps both artists included folded fabric as a prominent element of their overall designs to emphasize there artistic ability.
ReplyDeleteGrace rightly notes that it is not just posture, gesture, and light that animate the figures in these two works, but also dramatic drapery, which is a classic means by which early modern artist demonstrated their virtuosic skills at representation.
DeleteBoth Carvaggio and Bernini portray the main figure as reaching toward the heavens. The light shining down on the figure exaggerates this idea of a heavenly presence and dramatizes each of the scenes. Essentially, both main figures are also in a pose that comes close to the shape of the cross, further emphasizing a heavenly presence in the work.
ReplyDeleteKatrina makes another simple but essential point about the poses of these two saints -- their gestures are not only dramatic but position their bodies in allusion to Christ's Crucifixion.
DeleteBoth artists instill in the viewer a sense of awe and admiration for divine power. In Caravaggio’s painting, the background is black, yet there is an unknown light source, which could come from the heavenly realm. The light creates deep shadows, which add drama to the snapshot and depict how Saint Paul has come out of the darkness into the light at the time of his conversion. The body positions also convey the true awe and inspiration attainable through acceptance of religion. Saint Paul and Saint Longinus both have their arms outstretched. The positions of their arms convey wholehearted acceptance of God and the fulfillment that one undergoes when immersed in faith. Saint Longinus embraces religion, as he stands up straight with his eyes raised to the heavens. In contrast, Saint Paul is overcome by religion, as he lies on the ground while taking in his life-changing conversion. However, both paintings send a positive message about religion, which was vital in order to revive religious art during the Counter-reformation.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, the emphasis here is on the positive moment of conversion and also the positive power of art -- in a Counter-Reformation context -- to convey messages of spirituality and faith.
DeleteWhen looking at these two pieces, by Bernini and Caravaggio, respectively, despite there different contexts and viewpoints, I see a surprising amount of similarities. The most prominent is in the depiction of the two men. In Bernini's sculpture, the figure is depicted with particular attention to his physical appearance as well as his open arm gesture. This is very similar to the depiction of the man on the floor in the foreground of Caravaggio's piece. Just like Bernini's piece, Caravaggio also payed attention to the representation of the man's physical appearance and has him depicted, while from a completely different vantage point, with open arms. Another significant similarity is the use of light. While sculpture and painting use and/or interact with light in very different ways, these two pieces, in these particular pictures above, show their similarities in respect to light. Both seem to have a light source coming from the bottom of the picture that causes there to be a shadow behind the figures in the respective pieces. For Bernini's sculpture, the light causes a shadow to be formed behind the Saint, exemplifying his greatness. In the case of Caravaggio's painting, the light source seems to be coming from and focused on the man and then dissipating as you move up the piece which also causes a shadow to be formed behind the man standing as well as the horse.
ReplyDeleteNice analysis, and a particularly thoughtful discussion of where the light sources that animate these works actually derive.
DeleteBoth Caravaggio's Conversion of Saint Paul and Bernini's Saint Longius share a common theme of "embracing new ideas and thoughts" as Audrey said before. The way the two main figures in each piece have their arms opened towards the heavens, shows a newfound appreciation and reverence for God. There is emphasis on emotion. Both subject's faces are very animated and expressive. Both seem to have a very confused look on their faces. Both pieces also use light to create added drama. It is like the heavens are shining down on both figures.
ReplyDeleteAnother nice reference to some of the points that have come up in this discussion already about the figures' relation to heaven, animation, and dramatic light effects as metaphorical for divine understanding and conversion.
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