''Saint Matthew and the Angel'' (1602) is a painting from the Italian master

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

(1571–1610), completed for the

Contarelli Chapel The Contarelli Chapel or Cappella Contarelli is located within the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. It is famous for housing three paintings on the theme of Saint Matthew the Evangelist by the Baroque master Caravaggio. The paintings w ...

in the church of

San Luigi dei Francesi The Church of St. Louis of the French ( it, San Luigi dei Francesi, french: Saint Louis des Français, la, S. Ludovici Francorum de Urbe) is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, not far from Piazza Navona. The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. It was destroyed in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in 1945 and is now known only from black-and-white photographs and enhanced color reproductions.

Style

Caravaggio was known for painting very realistically, using models instead of standard convention and idealization. He made his figures lifelike and relatable, as opposed to portraying unrealistic or phony poses. In this instance, however, the patrons wanted an idealization of the beloved Saint, someone who its viewers could admire and strain to be like. They did not want a bumbling peasant who looked as if he just walked in off the street. With the

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

sweeping down and the Saint's stool teetering in movement, it is arguably one of Caravaggio's earliest examples of his dynamic style. It was a much more exciting composition than his first submission. Even though Caravaggio changed the composition to suit the desires of the patron, you can still see his own style under the more refined subject of

Saint Matthew Matthew the Apostle,, shortened to ''Matti'' (whence ar, مَتَّى, Mattā), meaning "Gift of YHWH"; arc, , Mattai; grc-koi, Μαθθαῖος, ''Maththaîos'' or , ''Matthaîos''; cop, ⲙⲁⲧⲑⲉⲟⲥ, Mattheos; la, Matthaeus a ...

Caravaggio saint matthew DLI 06163009908

]

History

''Saint Matthew and the Angel'' was completed in 1602. A part of the collection of the former

Kaiser Friedrich Museum The Bode-Museum (English: ''Bode Museum''), formerly called the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (''Emperor Frederick Museum''), is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1898 to 1904 by order of Germa ...

, it was moved to a

flak tower Flak towers (german: link=no, Flaktürme) were large, above-ground, anti-aircraft gun blockhouse towers constructed by Nazi Germany. There were 8 flak tower complexes in the cities of Berlin (three), Hamburg (two), and Vienna (three) from 1940 on ...

for safety but was destroyed by fire at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

br>while stored in an anti-aircraft bunker in Berlin
This work, by a pillar of the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

movement, might have provided new information about the artist and patron. Reproductions of the original still survive.

Commission

''Saint Matthew and the Angel'' was created as a commission for the Contarelli Chapel. Caravaggio was previously commissioned to paint two scenes of the saint's life, and after the patrons were satisfied with them, a third was commissioned. The Contarelli Chapel was dedicated to Saint Matthew. With funds left for its building left in 1585, it was completed in 1600. Cardinal Del Monte played a major part in orchestrating the decoration of its interior, and was the one who suggested Caravaggio as the painter of the scenes of Saint Matthew's life. The altar was to be composed of two Caravaggio paintings as well as a statue of the saint by Flemish artist Jacob Cobaert.Hess, “Contarelli Chapel,” 197. However, the church was not pleased with the statue and Caravaggio was re-hired to do another piece as the center for the altar, to show Saint Matthew writing the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

under the guidance of an angel. Caravaggio depicted the Saint as an unlearned peasant, gaping in the presence of the angel. The church rejected Caravaggio's irreverent presentation of the saint, and Caravaggio replaced it with a more glorifying image, ''

The Inspiration of Saint Matthew ''The Inspiration of Saint Matthew'' (1602) is a painting by the Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Commissioned by the French Cardinal Matteo Contarelli, the canvas hangs in Contarelli chapel altar in the church of the Fr ...

'', which remains in the Chapel today.

Comparison

The comparison is not perfect because the only images available of the lost ''Saint Matthew and the Angel'' are black and white photographs that were taken before World War II. The lost painting showed Saint Matthew as poorly groomed, with dirty feet. Although this was the style of Caravaggio, the church leaders thought it was too crude and did not want to have what looked like a peasant hanging in their sacred altarpiece. In addition, they thought that this Matthew did not match the other two paintings that Caravaggio had already done. It was apparently disconnected and therefore had no place with the others. The second piece keeps true to the same subject, but with a few changes. Matthew looks more like the other two Matthews in the altar. The Saint is now more serious and in control in the presence of the angel. Instead of being fully controlled by the angel, Saint Matthew is only encouraged by the angel in the second one. He is working more on his own accord. Nevertheless, the surviving version loses the touching directness of the first - the childlike angel patiently guiding the Saint's hand on the page as though he were the child.

Notes

References

*Hess, Jacob. "Chronology of the Contarelli Chapel." ''The Burlington Magazine'' 93, no. 579 (June 1951): 186–201. *Spear, RE. "Caravaggio." ''The Burlington Magazine'' 147, no. 1223 (2005): 140–142. *Thomas, Troy. "Expressive Aspects of Caravaggio's First Inspiration of Saint Matthew." ''The Art Bulletin'' 67, no. 4 (December 1985): 636–652. *Vodret Adamo, Rossella and Sinebrychoffin Taidemuseo. ''Caravaggio: The Mystery of the Two Saint Francis in Meditation''. Milano:Silvana, 2009.

External links

* {{Caravaggio 1602 paintings Paintings by Caravaggio Religious paintings Religious controversies in painting Angels in art Books in art Paintings depicting Matthew the Apostle