Resurrection (Cecco del Caravaggio)

Last updated
The Resurrection
Francesco Buoneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio - The Resurrection - Google Art Project.jpg
Artist Cecco del Caravaggio
Year1619–20 [1]
MediumOil on canvas [1]
Dimensions339.1 cm× 199.5 cm(133.5 in× 78.5 in) [1]
Location Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, United States

The Resurrection by Cecco del Caravaggio, the Italian Baroque painter, is the only painting known for certain to be his. [1] It was commissioned in 1619 by Piero Guicciardini, the Tuscan ambassador to Rome. Through the use of alternate strong lights and deep shadows the chiaroscuro highlights the vividness of the dramatic scene. One of Cecco's most notable works, the painting is in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. [2]

Contents

History and description

The painting depicts the moment of the resurrection as described in Gospel of Matthew 28:2:

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and,
going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. And his appearance was like lightning,
and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. [3]

The artwork is a large-scale painting intended for private devotion. It was commissioned in 1619 by Piero Guicciardini, the Tuscan ambassador to Rome, for his private chapel in Santa Felicita, Florence. [1] Completed in 1620, the painting was rejected by Guicciardini, and never arrived in Florence (where it was replaced by a mediocre painting by Antonio Tempesta). Later it was acquired instead by Cardinal Francesco Barberini for his collection, who was a discerning patron of the arts. The painting has been described as a "powerful and aesthetically pleasing work of art". [4]

The painting depicts the resurrection in a complex composition of twisted bodies before a dark background. Christ is floating above the scene kneeling on a cloud, holding a banner in his left hand, while the angel who lifted the tombstone is standing in profile turning his head victoriously towards the viewer. The soldiers who were assigned to guard the tomb are scattered around. The artist's use of strong and clear colours, combined with the softened muted tones of the nuances, creates an overall balance between the variations of shadow and light typical of the Baroque. [1]

It has been held by the Art Institute of Chicago since 1934, as part of the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alessandro Allori</span> Italian painter

Alessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino Allori was an Italian painter of the late Mannerist Florentine school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caravaggio</span> Italian painter (1571–1610)

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of his life, he moved between Naples, Malta, and Sicily until his death. His paintings have been characterized by art critics as combining a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, which had a formative influence on Baroque painting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baroque painting</span> European art from about 1590 to 1750

Baroque painting is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. The movement is often identified with Absolutism, the Counter Reformation and Catholic Revival, but the existence of important Baroque art and architecture in non-absolutist and Protestant states throughout Western Europe underscores its widespread popularity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annibale Carracci</span> Bolognese painter (1560–1609)

Annibale Carracci was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of the Baroque style, borrowing from styles from both north and south of their native city, and aspiring for a return to classical monumentality, but adding a more vital dynamism. Painters working under Annibale at the gallery of the Palazzo Farnese would be highly influential in Roman painting for decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santi di Tito</span> Italian painter

Santi di Tito was one of the most influential and leading Italian painters of the proto-Baroque style – what is sometimes referred to as "Counter-Maniera" or Counter-Mannerism.

<i>Amor Vincit Omnia</i> (Caravaggio) Painting by Caravaggio

Amor Vincit Omnia in Latin, known in English by a variety of names including Amor Victorious, Victorious Cupid, Love Triumphant, Love Victorious, or Earthly Love is a painting by the Italian Baroque artist Caravaggio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giovanni Baglione</span> Italian painter and art historian (1566–1643)

Giovanni Baglione was an Italian Late Mannerist and Early Baroque painter and art historian. Although a prolific painter, Baglione is best remembered for his encyclopedic collection of biographies of the other artists working in Rome during his lifetime, and particularly his acrimonious relationship with the slightly younger artist Caravaggio through his art and writings.

<i>The Entombment of Christ</i> (Caravaggio) Painting by Caravaggio

Caravaggio created one of his most admired altarpieces, The Entombment of Christ, in 1603–1604 for the second chapel on the right in Santa Maria in Vallicella, a church built for the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri. A copy of the painting is now in the chapel, and the original is in the Vatican Pinacoteca. The painting has been copied by artists as diverse as Rubens, Fragonard, Géricault and Cézanne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecco del Caravaggio</span> Italian painter

Cecco del Caravaggio is the Notname given to a painter who worked in Rome in the early decades of the 17th century and was an important early follower of Caravaggio (1571–1610). In the past art historians have suggested he may have been a Flemish, French or Spanish Caravaggist but more recently some have identified the artist with Francesco Boneri, although this is not universally accepted. In his work the artist responded in a very individual and original manner to Caravaggio's naturalism.

<i>David with the Head of Goliath</i> (Caravaggio, Rome) Painting by Caravaggio

David with the Head of Goliath is a painting by the Italian Baroque artist Caravaggio. It is housed in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. The painting, which was in the collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese in 1650, has been dated as early as 1605 and as late as 1609–1610, with more recent scholars tending towards the former.

<i>Sacrifice of Isaac</i> (Caravaggio) Paintings by Caravaggio

The Sacrifice of Isaac is the title of two paintings from c. 1598 - 1603 depicting the sacrifice of Isaac. The paintings could be painted by the Italian master Caravaggio (1571–1610) but there is also strong evidence that they may have been the work of Bartolomeo Cavarozzi, a talented early member of the Caravaggio following who is known to have been in Spain about 1617–1619.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Maria del Monte</span> Italian Cardinal, diplomat and arts patron (1549–1627)

Francesco Maria del Monte, full name Francesco Maria Bourbon del Monte Santa Maria, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat, and connoisseur of the arts. His fame today rests on his early patronage of the important Baroque master Caravaggio, and on his art collection which provides provenance for many important works of the period.

John the Baptist was the subject of at least eight paintings by the Italian Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610).

<i>Saint Matthew and the Angel</i> Destroyed painting by Caravaggio

Saint Matthew and the Angel (1602) is a painting from the Italian master Caravaggio (1571–1610), completed for the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. It was destroyed in Berlin in 1945 and is now known only from black-and-white photographs and enhanced color reproductions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberto Longhi</span> Italian art historian (1890–1970)

Roberto Longhi was an Italian academic, art historian, and curator. The main subjects of his studies were the painters Caravaggio and Piero della Francesca.

Events from the year 1620 in art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian Baroque art</span> Italian art movement

Italian Baroque art is a term that is used here to refer to Italian painting and sculpture in the Baroque manner executed over a period that extended from the late sixteenth to the mid eighteenth centuries. Italian Baroque architecture is not covered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resurrection of Jesus in Christian art</span>

The resurrection of Jesus has long been central to Christian faith and Christian art, whether as a single scene or as part of a cycle of the Life of Christ. In the teachings of the traditional Christian churches, the sacraments derive their saving power from the passion and resurrection of Christ, upon which the salvation of the world entirely depends. The redemptive value of the resurrection has been expressed through Christian art, as well as being expressed in theological writings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Ducamps</span> Flemish painter (1600–1648)

Jean Ducamps, Giovanni di Filippo del Campo or Giovanni del Campo, was a Flemish Baroque painter who spent most of his career in Italy where he enjoyed notoriety for his religious compositions, genre scenes and allegories. He worked in a style that was influenced by Caravaggio and is counted amongst the Northern Caravaggisti.

<i>Assumption of the Virgin</i> (Cerasi Chapel) Painting by Annibale Carracci (Santa Maria del Popolo, Cappella Cerasi)

The Assumption of the Virgin by Annibale Carracci is the altarpiece of the famous Cerasi Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. The large panel painting was created in 1600–1601. The artwork is somewhat overshadowed by the two more famous paintings of Caravaggio on the side walls of the chapel: The Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus and The Crucifixion of Saint Peter. Both painters were important in the development of Baroque art but the contrast is striking: Carracci's Virgin glows with even light and radiates harmony, while the paintings of Caravaggio are dramatically lit and foreshortened.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Resurrection (Cecco del Caravaggio)". The Art Institute. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  2. "The Resurrection – Cecco del Caravaggio". Google Cultural Institute. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  3. "matthew/28-2". biblehub.com. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  4. "Cecco resurrection" (PDF). www.radwin.org. Retrieved 26 March 2015.

Further reading