The Calling of St Matthew (Caravaggio)
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''The Calling of Saint Matthew'' is a painting by
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 ...
, depicting the moment at which Jesus Christ inspires Matthew to follow him. It was completed in 1599–1600 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 wer ...
in the church of the French congregation,
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, ...
in
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 ...
, where it remains. It hangs alongside two other paintings of Matthew by Caravaggio, ''The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew'' (painted around the same time as the ''Calling'') and ''
The Inspiration of Saint Matthew ''The Inspiration of Saint Matthew'' (1602) is a painting by the Italy, Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Commissioned by the French Cardinal Matteo Contarelli, the canvas hangs in Contarelli chapel altar in t ...
'' (1602).


Commission

Over a decade before, Cardinal
Matthieu Cointerel Matthieu Cointerel (Morannes''Répertoire historique et archéologique de l'Anjou'' Page 138 Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts d'Angers. Commission archéologique de Maine et Loire - 1861 "Matthieu Cointerel est-il né à Morannes? tel ...
(in Italian, Matteo Contarelli) had left in his will funds and specific instructions for the decoration of a chapel based on themes related to his namesake,
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 ...
. The dome of the chapel was decorated with frescoes by the late
Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...
artist
Giuseppe Cesari Giuseppe Cesari (14 February 1568 – 3 July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called ''Cavaliere d'Arpino'', because he was created ''Cavaliere di Cristo'' by his patron Pope Clement VIII. He was much patronize ...
, Caravaggio's former employer and one of the most popular painters in Rome at the time. But as Cesari became busy with royal and papal patronage, Cardinal Francesco Del Monte, Caravaggio's patron and also the prefect of the Fabbrica of St Peter's (the Vatican office for Church property), intervened to obtain for Caravaggio his first major church commission and his first painting with more than a handful of figures. The ''Calling'' hangs opposite '' The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew''. While the ''Martyrdom'' was probably the first to be started, the ''Calling'' was, by report, the first to be completed. The commission for these two lateral paintings — the ''Calling'' and the ''Martyrdom'' — is dated July 1599, and final payment was made in July 1600. Between the two, at the altar, is ''
The Inspiration of Saint Matthew ''The Inspiration of Saint Matthew'' (1602) is a painting by the Italy, Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Commissioned by the French Cardinal Matteo Contarelli, the canvas hangs in Contarelli chapel altar in t ...
'' (1602).


Subject matter

The painting depicts the story from the
Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...
(Matthew 9:9): "Jesus saw a man named
Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...
at his seat in the custom house, and said to him, "Follow me", and Matthew rose and followed Him." Caravaggio depicts Matthew the tax collector sitting at a table with four other men. Jesus Christ and Saint Peter have entered the room, and Jesus is pointing at Matthew. A beam of light illuminates the faces of the men at the table who are looking at Jesus Christ.


Identity of Matthew

There is some debate over which man in the picture is Saint Matthew, as the surprised gesture of the bearded man at the table can be read in two ways. Most writers on the ''Calling'' assume Saint Matthew to be the bearded man, and see him to be pointing at himself, as if to ask "Me?" in response to Christ's summons. This theory is strengthened when one takes into consideration the other two works in this series, ''The Inspiration of Saint Matthew'', and ''The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew''. The bearded man who models as Saint Matthew appears in all three works, with him unequivocally playing the role of Saint Matthew in both the "Inspiration" and the "Martyrdom". A more recent interpretation proposes that the bearded man is in fact pointing at the young man at the end of the table, whose head is slumped. In this reading, the bearded man is asking "Him?" in response to Christ's summons, and the painting is depicting the moment immediately before a young Matthew raises his head to see Christ. Other writers describe the painting as deliberately ambiguous.


Identity of Christ

Some scholars speculate that Jesus is portrayed as the Last Adam or Second Adam as titled in the New Testament. This is displayed in Christ's hand as it reaches out towards Matthew. It is almost a mirrored image of Adam's hand in ''The Creation of Adam'' by Michelangelo, the namesake of Caravaggio. Twice in the New Testament, an explicit comparison is made between Jesus and Adam. In Romans 5:12–21, Paul argues that "just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19, NIV). In 1 Corinthians 15:22, Paul argues that "as in Adam all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive," while in verse 45 he calls Jesus the "last/ultimate/final Adam".


Style

The three adjacent Caravaggio canvases in 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 wer ...
represent a decisive shift from the idealising Mannerism of which Cesari was the last major practitioner, to the newer, more naturalistic and subject-oriented art represented by Caravaggio and
Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci (; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) 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 th ...
: they were highly influential in their day. In some ways, most of the plebeian, nearly life-sized inhabitants of
Levi Levi (; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron, Moses and M ...
's money table are the equivalent of, if not modeled by, those persons in other Caravaggio paintings, including Caravaggio's famous secular genre painting of ''
The Cardsharps ''The Cardsharps'' (painted around 1594) is a painting by the Italian Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The original is generally agreed to be the work acquired by the Kimbell Art Museum in 1987, although Caravaggio may have pa ...
'' (1595). In this painting, the gloom and the canvassed window appears to situate the table indoors. Christ brings the true light to the dark space of the sitting tax-collectors. This painting records the collision of two worlds — the ineluctable power of the immortal faith, and the
mundane In subcultural and fictional uses, a mundane is a person who does not belong to a particular group, according to the members of that group; the implication is that such persons, lacking imagination, are concerned solely with the mundane: the w ...
, foppish world of Levi. Jesus spears him with a beam of light, with an apparent effortless hand gesture he exerts an inescapable sublime gravity, with no need for wrenching worldly muscularity. Jesus' bare feet are classical simplicity in contrast with the dandified accountants; being barefoot may also symbolize holiness, as if one is on holy ground. Similarly to his treatment of Paul in the ''
Conversion on the Way to Damascus The ''Conversion on the Way to Damascus'' (''Conversione di San Paolo'') is a work by Caravaggio, painted in 1601 for the Cerasi Chapel of the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in Rome. Across the chapel is a second Caravaggio depicting the '' ...
'', Caravaggio chronicles the moment when a daily routine is interrupted by the miraculous. Around the man to become Matthew are either the unperceptive or unperturbed bystanders. Caravaggio's audience would have seen the similarity between the gesture of Jesus as he points towards Matthew and the gesture of God as he awakens Adam in
Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
's
Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel (; la, Sacellum Sixtinum; it, Cappella Sistina ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), the chapel takes its name ...
. Following the line of Christ's left arm, it seems that Matthew is being invited to follow him into the world at large. "This clear legibility, so different from many Mannerist paintings, ... accounted for the work's enormous popularity." The position of Christ's hand, however, reflects that of Adam's in the Sistine Chapel; the Church considered Christ to be the Second Adam. But instead of being gifted life, as the first Adam was, Christ is instead the one who bestows it, calling Levi to a new life as Matthew.


Responses

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
has said that he often went to San Luigi as a young man to contemplate the painting. Referring both to Christ's outstretched arm and Matthew's response, Francis said, "This is me, a sinner on whom the Lord has turned his gaze."


Other paintings of the same topic

There are many other early modern representations of the calling of Matthew. Two were painted prior to Caravaggio's but it is unlikely that Caravaggio would have encountered them. *
Carpaccio Carpaccio (, , ) is a dish of meat or fish (such as beef, veal, venison, salmon or tuna), thinly sliced or pounded thin, and served raw, typically as an appetizer. It was invented in 1963 by Giuseppe Cipriani from Harry's Bar in Venice, Ital ...
's version in the Accademia in
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
*
Marinus van Reymerswaele Marinus may refer to: *Marinus (crater), a crater on the Moon *Marinus (given name), for people named Marinus *Dr. Marinus, a recurring character in the novels of David Mitchell See also *''The Keys of Marinus ''The Keys of Marinus'' is the ...
's version (1536) * Giovanni Lanfranco's derivative version (1626–28) *Spanish painter
Juan de Pareja Juan de Pareja (c. 1606 in Antequera – 1670 in Madrid) was a Spanish painter and slave, born in Antequera, near Málaga, Spain. He is known primarily as a member of the household and workshop of painter Diego Velázquez, who freed him in 1650. ...
's version (1661) found in the
Prado Museum The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...
in Madrid. *
Hendrick ter Brugghen Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen (or Terbrugghen) (1588 – 1 November 1629) was a Dutch painter of genre scenes and religious subjects. He was one of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio – the so-called ''Utrecht Caravaggisti''. Along with Gerrit va ...
*
Bernardo Strozzi Bernardo Strozzi, named il Cappuccino and il Prete Genovese (c. 1581 – 2 August 1644) was an Italian Baroque painter and engraver. A canvas and fresco artist, his wide subject range included history, allegorical, genre and portrait paintin ...
's version (1620) in the Art Museum in
Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
, Massachusetts *Other related paintings of cardsharps include the
Caravaggisti The Caravaggisti (or the "Caravagesques") were stylistic followers of the late 16th-century Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio. His influence on the new Baroque style that eventually emerged from Mannerism was profound. Caravaggio never establish ...
depiction of Valentin de Boulogne in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.


See also

*
List of paintings by Caravaggio The following is a list of paintings by the Italian artist Caravaggio, listed chronologically.Spike, John T. ''Caravaggio''. New York : Abbeville Press, 2001: p. 253–54 List of paintings Footnotes Further reading

* * * * * * * * ...


Further reading

* Jürgen Müller: Wer ist Matthäus? Eine neue Deutung von Caravaggios ‚Berufung des heiligen Matthäus‘ aus der Contarelli-Kapelle, in: ''Kunstgeschichte. Open Peer Reviewed Journal'', 2021


References


Sources

* John Gash, ''Caravaggio'', 2003 *Helen Langdon, ''Caravaggio: A Life'', 1998


External links


''Calling of St. Matthew'' Analysis and Critical Receptionibiblio.org"Seeing an Old Masterpiece with New Eyes" (Elizabeth Lev in Zenit)smARThistory: Caravaggio's ''Calling of St. Matthew''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Calling of St Matthew Paintings by Caravaggio 1590s paintings Paintings depicting Jesus Paintings depicting Matthew the Apostle Paintings depicting Saint Peter Artworks in San Luigi dei Francesi