Rebuilding The Renaissance Rocky Ruggiero

Caravaggio, still a fugitive from justice, left Naples for Malta in the second half of 1607 most likely because the sensational paintings he produced in Naples were drawing too much attention to him. When he arrived in Malta, he was inducted into the brotherhood and apparently changed his ways. One of the paintings that he produced while in Malta was his beautiful “Sleeping Cupid,” (today in the Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy) which reminded its patron of his vow of chastity.

Painted in 1607 while Caravaggio was in Naples, Italy, trying to elude the long arm of papal law for the murder he committed in Rome, the “Madonna of the Rosary” is Caravaggio’s most standard Baroque painting. While the patron is unknown, curiously, the painting went up for sale a few months after being completed perhaps indicating an unsatisfied client.

Located in the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, Italy, Caravaggio painted the “Flagellation” in 1607 while he was hiding out in Naples because he was wanted for murder in Rome. The “Flagellation” is dramatically sadistic scene of imminent torture set – like so many of Caravaggio’s paintings - in a dark shallow theatrical space.

When Caravaggio arrived in Naples as a fugitive on the run from papal justice in 1606, he immediately began to receive commissions. One of his first was for a charitable organization called the “Pio Monte della Misericordia.” This organization had just built a church with seven altars upon which seven separate paintings illustrating the “Seven Acts of Mercy” were to be placed. In true impetuous Caravaggio fashion, he produced a single beautiful painting that represented all seven acts!

From similar faces in the Scrovegni Chapel, to identifying Judas in Veronese’s “Feast in the House of Levi,” to the symbolic gestures of the apostles in Caravaggio’s “Supper at Emmaus,” to the “Isleworth Mona Lisa,” to my advice to a young person about life and much, much more - this episode answers the very questions that you ask me about the great art, artists and history of the Italian Renaissance – and the meaning of life!

Painted shortly after Caravaggio killed a man in Rome and was a fugitive from justice, the “David with the Head of Goliath” is today located in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. The painting was given to Cardinal Scipione Borghese in hopes that he could convince his uncle, Pope Paul V, to pardon Caravaggio who was wanted dead or alive.