Original subtitles

Of all the great artists, Caravaggio seems to speak most intensely to the modern world.

A man whose art seems obsessed with sexuality and sensuality,

youth and beauty, fear and violence, loneliness and intense self-awareness.

He lived a brief and tumultuous life, mocking authority, even murdering a man.

He spent four years on the run, a fugitive from justice.

But he always painted, reimagining the most familiar stories in Western culture from the Bible

and bringing religious art to life in paintings so powerful and naturalistic

that some saw them as miracles in themselves.

Caravaggio was born, it's believed, in September 1571 here in Milan.

He was christened Michelangelo Morisi, but later adopted the name Caravaggio

from the village in which his father owned property, 43 kilometres east of Milan.

His father died of the plague when Caravaggio was a young boy

and soon after he became an apprentice to painter Simone Pettisano.

When he'd just turned 20, Caravaggio sold the land he'd inherited from his father

and left Milan and the north for good.

There are various unsubstantiated reports that he'd spent time in prison in Milan

for assaulting a constable, the first in a number of crimes

with which Caravaggio was implicated throughout his mysterious life.

What's more certain, though, is that when he headed south,

he came to the city in which he would make his artistic name, Rome.

By the late 16th century, Rome had fallen from grace,

lagging far behind Venice, Naples, Florence and Milan.

But the Pope, Sixtus V, was seeking to reverse this

and the city was busy with building projects.

Caravaggio's early years, however, seemed to have been spent

in various households and workshops carrying out menial artistic tasks.

One of these workshops was that of Giuseppe Cesare d'Arpino,

the foremost Roman painter of the day.

But the precocious Caravaggio made clear his disregard

for the reverence shown to ancient statues

and to the art of the Renaissance masters,

particularly Michelangelo and Raphael.

One day, it's said, when shown some ancient sculptures,

Caravaggio pointed instead to a crowd of people in the street,

declaring them to be superior models for his art.

And it's this proclaimed interest in naturalism

that's made evident in two paintings

widely believed to be done by Caravaggio

while he's still working for Cesare d'Arpino,

the first of which takes a young fruit seller off the street.

There's a dreamy expression on his face

and he's sensually delighting in the succulent basket of fruit

that he classed to himself.

The picture's slightly staged with this raking diagonal lighting

that becomes a trademark of Caravaggio's later work.

But look at how the work's painted.

It's beautiful, dexterous.

And it's an exquisitely painted still life of grapes and peaches

that arrests the viewer's eye

and then draws us into this, the second picture,

which is clearly alluding to the Roman god of wine and inspiration, Bacchus.

But it's also a self-portrait and a self-portrait with a twist

because if you look at those greying lips and those sunken dark eyes,

this is an image of Bacchus and Caravaggio that's ill or sick.

And I think it's subversive.

I think what he's saying is that ancient or classical Roman culture is sick

and perhaps the future is in naturalism.

Look at the grapes, how they're painted.

They are naturalistic, but at the same time they're turning,

which amplifies that idea of illness.

The expression on his face is melancholic.

And melancholia, in Renaissance and post-Renaissance Italy,

is associated with the creative genius.

And when you combine that with this crown that he wears on his head,

it's as if he's saying, I've arrived.

The painting which caught the eye of the Roman art world

and announced the dramatic arrival of a new talent

was this one, called The Card Sharps.

It's a piece of theatre on canvas,

a slightly comic moral fable about the gullibility of youth,

with a raffishly clothed man and his young accomplice

fleecing a young aristocrat at cards,

the man peering not so surreptitiously at his hand

and gesturing to his sidekick,

who reaches for the winning card, behind his back.

Caravaggio uses the same model for both boys,

both practical and perhaps a reference

to the potential duality in each of us.

Sometime in 1595, the card sharps caught the eye

of Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte,

the Medici ambassador to the papal court here in Rome,

who lived in the splendid Palazzo Madama,

just round the corner from the Piazza Navona.

And so impressed was the cardinal with Caravaggio's work

that he asked the painter to join his household.

Whilst Caravaggio was in Del Monte's service,

he was commissioned to paint five major pictures,

the most lyrical and sensual of which was this one.

The musicians shows a lute player,

a singer and a cornetto player preparing to make music

whilst a winged cupid plucks at a bunch of grapes.

It's a hedonistic image

which builds on Caravaggio's early paintings,

but also tries to convey something of the power of music.

The boy with the lute has tears in his eyes,

as if moved by the sounds around him,

and the almost orgasmic look on the face

of the cornetto player just behind

adds a haunting and erotic dimension to the painting.

This may be a self-portrait of the painter,

partly angelic, partly mischievous,

and with trouble just around the corner.

In 1598, Caravaggio was arrested and thrown in prison

for illegally carrying a sword,

but he was quickly released

because he was in the employment

of the influential Cardinal Del Monte.

Subsequently, Del Monte was instrumental

in Caravaggio winning an important commission,

conveniently enough, located slap-bang next

to where Caravaggio was living at the Palazzo Madama.

It was for a pair of paintings

to be produced for the Contorelli Chapel

in this church of San Luigi di Franchese.

The commission, both physically and in terms of importance,

was by far and away the biggest of Caravaggio's career to date.

It came from a French cardinal, Contorelli,

who's buried here in the chapel,

whose will decreed that he wanted two scenes

from the life of St Matthew the Evangelist

depicted on his chapel walls.

And it's a kind of narrative sequence

that Caravaggio produced,

which begins with this picture,

the calling of St Matthew.

Matthew was a tax collector and a publican,

a wealthy man who is confronted by Christ

in the tax office,

where Christ sees him and says,

follow me.

And it's exactly that moment

that Caravaggio tries to bring to life.

In a way, it's a picture of two halves,

with Christ and St Peter on the right-hand side,

dressed in biblical costume.

Christ points at St Matthew,

and the viewer's eye is drawn from right to left,

and look at the way the light rakes in from the window,

illuminating the bearded face of St Matthew,

who points at himself as if to say,

me?

St Matthew and his wealthy and slightly loose friends

are clad in contemporary Roman costume.

And this is part of the power of the painting.

It's as if these figures have stepped

from out of the Roman back streets

and into a bar,

although in this case, it's a tax office.

But actually, it looks almost like a gambling den.

There's something evocative

of Caravaggio's painting of the card sharps,

where one figure is looking down at money,

St Matthew has a coin tucked into his hat

as if to amplify their value system.

Ultimately, it's a painting of contrast

between poverty and wealth,

darkness and light,

with St Matthew divinely illuminated.

It also contrasts the Roman world

in which Caravaggio lived

with the biblical one that he wanted to bring to life.

It's a simple story,

but told in a complex or sophisticated way.

And from this,

Caravaggio turns his attention

to something equally dramatic,

but much more garishly violent.

This work,

The Martyrdom of St Matthew,

was actually begun by Caravaggio

before he started work on The Calling.

But, having finished that work,

he came back to this

and realised it didn't have quite the impact,

and also the figures were too small.

So he reworked it,

he scaled everything up,

and this is the finished piece.

According to legend,

Matthew was preaching the Christian gospel

that he'd actually written or recorded

in Ethiopia.

And he came across the fiancée of King Hurticus,

a woman called Iphigenia,

and he converted her to Christianity,

and in turn,

she wouldn't marry the king.

He then sent an assassin

to slay Matthew,

and that's the moment

that Caravaggio chooses to depict.

And in the narrative,

St Matthew is in church saying Mass,

but he's also baptising these figures,

one of whom rears up to kill him.

Look at the light of the painting.

Rather like The Calling,

it comes in from the top left-hand side

of the painting.

We know that in his studio,

Caravaggio hung a strong lamp

to get this theatrical effect.

Also, the figures,

who seem to have been taken

directly from The Calling of St Matthew,

are wearing contemporary clothes,

as is the priest.

And this would have struck a chord

with the contemporary Roman audience,

because a few years before in Rome,

a Protestant fanatic

attacked a priest

just at the moment

he was holding up the host,

and eventually was bundled off to prison.

So it played on contemporary phobias.

There are two other key details.

The first,

the figure of the angel,

who holds a palm leaf

down to St Matthew,

as if to proclaim

that redemption

and eternal life

will be his.

The other one, though,

is more subtle.

In the distance,

as if fleeing from the scene,

wearing a robe,

looking over his shoulder,

is Caravaggio.

There's a self-portrait.

And this desire he has

for authenticity,

trying to make things

seem as lifelike as possible,

is amplified with that gesture.

He's trying to immerse himself

in the scene

and, in effect,

paint it from the inside out.

But as Caravaggio's creative life

got more successful,

his private life

seemed to get darker

and became

a kind of low-life opera,

a combination of back streets

and brothels,

of fights,

and eventually,

of murder.

In 1600,

Caravaggio was commissioned

by the Pope's treasurer-general,

a man called Tiberio Chirassi,

to produce work

for his funerary chapel

here in this church

of Santa Maria del Popolo,

on the northern edge

of the city,

then is now a busy place

where pilgrims flocked

to a city that was

reawakening itself spiritually.

And in order to make

the work as powerful

as possible,

the treasurer-general

chose the two rising stars

of Roman art

to do the commission,

Anibali Caracci

and, of course, Caravaggio.

And, effectively,

the two painters

went head-to-head

inside the church.

In a way,

Anibali Caracci

has a head start

because he gets

the central commission

to paint the altarpiece,

and this is his version

of the Assumption

of the Virgin Mary.

Now, his style of art,

we may say,

is classical baroque,

that style that is used

to promote Roman Catholicism,

where forms are idealised,

simplified to a certain extent,

using light and drama.

But then,

flanking them,

and in contrast,

is Caravaggio,

whose paintings

are much darker,

much murkier,

but also equally dramatic,

but using intense realism,

working directly

from the model

to try and bring Christianity

and Roman Catholicism

to life.

And the two subjects

that Caravaggio chooses

are very close

to the city of Rome.

One is the martyrdom

of St Peter,

which took place

here in Rome.

The other is the conversion

of St Paul.

And there's a real nice twist

as to what Caravaggio

thinks of Caracci

in this battle

as they go head-to-head,

because in the conversion

of St Paul,

there's a giant horse

whose backside

points unmistakably

straight at Caracci's work.

And then on the opposite wall,

there's a similar treatment

to a different subject,

this time the martyrdom

or crucifixion of St Peter,

where once again,

the image is cropped.

We zoom in.

We don't see the background detail

of the crowds that gathered

for the execution of St Peter,

but what we do see

is a contemporary Roman workman

who's just dug the hole

in which the cross will be placed,

and then his dirty feet

and this idea of him

about to lift the cross up,

where above,

a man tugs

and of course,

St Peter is executed

upside down,

that's his choice,

because he doesn't want

exactly to mirror

the suffering

of his saviour,

of Christ.

And the picture

has this amazing sense

of uncoiling.

It's this idea

of moving upwards

and round.

There's a sense

of what's going

to happen next.

It's a wonderful

frozen moment.

And once again,

the detail

and the symbolism

is absolutely charged.

In the foreground

is a rock.

Why?

Well, St Peter is the rock

on which the church

was built.

And the effect

of the painting

is not to show

St Peter

as, if you like,

the forerunner

of papal splendour,

but it locates him

once again

as a fisherman

who was found

by Christ

and who then

followed him.

It's a much

humbler image

of St Peter

than we usually get.

But Caravaggio's

personal life

was less humble

and less dignified

and his fiery temper

was frequently

getting him

into trouble.

In one instance,

a fellow painter

called Baglioni

accused Caravaggio

of libel

for writing

and circulating

scurrilous verses

virulently denigrating

Baglioni's art.

Caravaggio

was duly found guilty

and spent two weeks

in jail.

In spite of his

growing notoriety,

Caravaggio got

the big commission

in 1605

to produce an

altarpiece

for the old

basilica

of St Peter's

in Rome.

Because the church

was being rebuilt,

Caravaggio's work

only hung in the

Vatican for a few

days,

but it was more

than long enough

to provoke discussion.

The subject matter

shows the Virgin Mary

and Christ

stamping on the head

of the serpent,

the sign or symbol

of the original sin.

There's a rather

interesting and

slightly comical

theological debate

that had raged

through the 16th century

with the Protestants

saying it was Jesus

who stamped on

the serpent's head

and the Catholics

saying it was Mary

and a paper ball

in 1569

from the Pope

proclaimed that

in fact it was Mary

with Jesus' help

and that's what

Caravaggio shows.

He also adds

Mary's mother

to the scene,

St Anne,

and you get this

wonderful contrast

of age,

of the young

beautiful woman

and the ageing woman.

On the evening

of the 28th of May

1606,

the Roman sky

was illuminated

with a firework

display to celebrate

the first anniversary

of the crowning

of the Pope.

But what went down

in history that night

had nothing to do

with the papacy

because Caravaggio

ended up killing

a man called

Ranuccio Tomassoni.

Some people have

speculated it was

a fight over something

as mundane

as a tennis match

but we do know

that the two of them

had quarreled

a few days earlier

and that Tomassoni

was a high-class

pimp of sorts

one of whose girls

or prostitutes

was sometimes used

as a model

by Caravaggio

so perhaps it was

a quarrel

over a girl.

Anyway,

Tomassoni was

definitely killed

by Caravaggio's

sword

and the story

spread through

newspapers

and the Roman

grapevine

like wildfire

so much so

that a capital

sentence was passed

on Caravaggio

which meant

that anyone

bringing him

dead or alive

his body

or simply his head

to justice

would receive a reward

and so not surprisingly

the painter very quickly

decided to leave town

and he came here

to Naples

a city not under

direct papal control

and a city known

to have harboured

the odd fugitive

from Roman justice.

One of the numerous

churches built in Naples

at the beginning

of the 17th century

was this one

the Madonna

de la Misericordia

built by seven

young noblemen

as part of an institution

that included a hospital

to tend the sick

the church itself

was built between

1602 and 166

and all that was needed

was an altarpiece

and it just so happened

that the most celebrated

Italian painter of the day

was in the city

and so

Caravaggio

got the commission

this is a rare example

where the chaos

off the street

is transformed

into a vision

on the wall

in a church

in a painting

that's complicated

chaotic

and pulsating

it's called either

the Madonna

de la Misericordia

or the Madonna

of mercy

or the seven

acts of mercy

at the top

is the Madonna

and child

presiding over everything

with an angel

who gestures down

to this vision

on earth

but actually

it's a vision

taken from

the back streets

of Naples

the seven noblemen

who'd established

this place

wanted to practice

the seven acts

of mercy

which according

to St Matthew

were giving food

to the hungry

giving drink

to the thirsty

clothing the naked

visiting and tending

the sick

visiting those

in prison

taking in strangers

and giving succor

to pilgrims

and this was added

in the middle ages

burying the dead

and all of those ideas

all of those acts

are incorporated

by Caravaggio

in the scene below

nearest to us

there's a crippled beggar

who is naked

above him

and clad in the luxurious

outfit

of a contemporary

Neapolitan nobleman

is a man

who's about to give

his cape

to the man

to his right

there's a pudgy

looking face

chubby hands

of someone

who's been identified

as a Neapolitan innkeeper

behind them

you can see

a figure

carrying a dead body

illuminated by a man

with a candle

and most curiously of all

there's this young girl

who offers her breast

to an old man

who's clearly in prison

now the origins

of this story

go back to Roman literature

to a story of charity

involving an old man

called Simon

who is starving in prison

and who in the end

is visited by his daughter

who offers her father

her milk

and that is amazingly

depicted by Caravaggio

right down to the detail

of droplets of milk

on the old man's beard

it's a highly unnerving image

certainly to our eyes

but it also symbolises

an extraordinary act

of charity

but I think salvation

is a long way off

in this picture

it seems to me

a painting charged with fear

and proclaiming the idea

that death can strike

at any minute

which if we think

about Caravaggio's

circumstances

with a death threat

hanging over him

I think it makes it

a very personal painting

but nevertheless

it's one that established

his reputation

in the Neapolitan art world

numerous commissions

came as a result

of this work

and also

amongst younger

Neapolitan painters

some of whom

actually produced work

in this church

Caravaggio's direct

influence was immense

in spite of a growing

success in Naples

he was no nearer

gaining a papal pardon

and so Caravaggio

travelled to Malta

to seek the help

of the Knights of St John

there he painted

an impressive

full length portrait

of the Grand Master

the French nobleman

Alof de Viñacourt

this so impressed

de Viñacourt

that he secured

the Pope's approval

for Caravaggio

to become a Knight

of St John

as well as strong

hints from the papacy

that it might offer

clemency to the artist

but just when everything

seemed to be going well

again in Caravaggio's life

surprisingly

there was a problem

he was imprisoned

we don't exactly know

why

the suspicion is

that he had a fight

with another knight

what we do know though

is that he was incarcerated

in the castle dungeon

and then presumably

with the help

of powerful friends

he managed to escape

scale down the walls

into a boat

at the bottom

and then headed out

to sea

from Malta

Caravaggio headed to Sicily

under Spanish jurisdiction

but still close enough

to Malta

for Caravaggio

to feel threatened

by the Knights

and accounts of his year

on the island

say that he became

increasingly crazy

and deranged

often sleeping fully clothed

and with a dagger

under his pillow

a fugitive

on the run

partly out of a need

to earn a living

and perhaps partly out

of a moral

or religious compulsion

Caravaggio completed

a number of commissions

for Sicilian patrons

including the raising

of Lazarus

for the order

of the ministers

of the sick

in Messina

the work is typical

of Caravaggio's late style

with an almost

overwhelming darkness

and although there may be

a danger of over reading

what is a conventional

subject for Christian art

the idea of painting

an image of Lazarus

the man who came back

from the dead

must have had a strong

resonance for the artist

in October 1609

Caravaggio fled Sicily

presumably

various pursuers he felt

were about to catch up

with him

and he returned here

to Naples

but almost immediately

he was beaten up

and left for dead

so he moved to the edge

of the city

to the home

of the Colonna family

where his lifelong protector

the Marchese de Caravaggio

was in town

on business

but also

beginning to broker

a deal with the Pope

to pardon the painter

Caravaggio's desire

for a pardon

is oddly enough

evident in this work

which shows David

with the head of Goliath

it's a dark work

in every sense

the young boy

having killed the giant

with his slingshot

and then cut his head off

is shown holding the head

with the hair visible

through the fingers

and blood dripping down

seemingly off the edge

of the canvas

but what gives this work

a real twist

is the fact that Goliath

is deemed to be

a self-portrait

by Caravaggio

so how does all this

fit together?

well remember

Caravaggio

has had a death sentence

metaphorically hanging

over his own head

for the previous four years

and the theory is

that this work

was painted

in order to placate

a former patron

Scipione Borghese

who is the Pope's nephew

and what in effect

Caravaggio is saying

is

I've sinned

my crime is horrendous

but rather than

decapitate me literally

I give you my painted head

in the hope

that in the end

mercy will prevail

it seems that mercy

was about to prevail

because in July 1610

Caravaggio was on his way

back to Rome by boat

when it stopped

just down the coast

at Palo

here though

as was so often

the case in his life

events become

shrouded in mystery

Caravaggio was arrested

perhaps even mistakenly

because he was released

two days later

by which time

the boat

had continued northward

with his paintings

and possessions on board

Caravaggio pursued the boat

as far as Porto Ecoli

where it seems

he died of a fever

maybe malaria

at the age of 38

his death went unrecorded

and there is no

known place of burial

his death has fuelled

conspiracy theorists

ever since

with everyone

from the knights of Malta

to forerunners

of the Sicilian mafia

deemed responsible

the truth is probably

an act of the god

whom he venerated

and feared

in many of his

greatest paintings

there may be no trace

of Caravaggio's

actual body

but he left

a body of work

that has had

perhaps more influence

on western painting

over the last

400 years

than any other

single artist