Kimbell Art Museum: Caravaggio: and His Followers in Rome

Calling of St. Matthew

David & Goliath



Entombment of Christ

Following our visit to the symphony we headed over to Fort Worth to see the Kimbell Art Museum’s new Caravaggio: and His Followers in Rome.  Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio [kara'vaddʒo] was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings had a serious influence on the Baroque style of painting.

In his early twenties Caravaggio moved to Rome where, during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, many huge new churches were being built and paintings were needed to fill them. During the Counter-Reformation the Roman Catholic Church searched for religious art with which to counter the threat of Protestantism.

 

He burst upon the Rome art scene in 1600 with the success of his first public commissions, the Martyrdom of Saint Matthew and Calling of Saint Matthew. After that he didn’t lack for work, but his hot temper would get him in trouble.

In 1606 he killed a young man in a brawl and fled from Rome with a price on his head. At the age of 38, he died of a fever in Tuscany, while on his way to Rome to receive a Papal pardon.

Infamous while he lived, Caravaggio was forgotten almost immediately after his death, and it was only in the 20th century that his importance to the development of Western art was rediscovered.  The Kimbell exhibit displays 10 Caravaggio’s along with 30 or 40 Caravaggisti styled works.  Several of the pieces were on loan from the Vatican in Rome!

The piece on display are stunning, the detail, and the lighting make them almost three dimensional.  If your headed with adults it would take a good hour to hour and a half to see the exhibit.  Today visiting with the kids I broke it up into sections, today we looked at only the ten pieces by Carvaggio.  We listen to the portable audio players with the description of each piece.  We will go back again before the exhibit closes and spend some time viewing the ‘followers’ paintings. 

Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person,

do not associate with one easily angered.
Proverbs 22:24