Way back in the 90s during my first trip to Italy, I learned to always look at the ceiling when touring Renaissance palaces. Some of the frescoes border on pornographic. This painting doesn't go quite that far, but it is really nice, and it is by Caravaggio in the Villa Aurora near Rome. The icing on the lovely cake here is that Caravaggio used himself as the model for both figures, Pluto and Neptune. Viewer John B generously sent this to me, and I should have posted it long ago.
What's also cool is that if you look at it from the lower left, the trident and the horse's legs straighten up perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI love the whole Caravaggio saga! He was gay of course and a lot of his models were male hustlers and street people. He'd seek the patronage of (also gay) wealthy Cardinals living in their palaces and creating masterpieces. It kind of gives me some insight into the reason for all that male nudity in those frescos.
ReplyDeleteHe led a wildly unorthodox life as a maurauding brigand and gang member who even at one point got into a bar squabble and murdered someone. From that point
on, the authorities were always after him pursuing him all over Italy. He'd be in a
wild escape scenario, then stop in somewhere, and paint a masterpiece like "The Ascension of Christ" then pack up his paints and start running again. I just made up that name but to me it defines the the imbalance of the gravitas of his art contrasted with the wildness of his lifestyle. He died very young at the age of 38
and in spite of his ultra bohemian lifestyle was acknowledged at the time as the greatest and even most revolutionary artist of his day.
Thanks for the bio, rbd! I was aware of his wild history, but too lazy to type it up.
DeleteCheck this dude out. His name is Tony Tetro and he was a very famous art5 forger who wrote an autobiography which is where I picked up on the whole Caravaggio wild-child story. The picture of him is in the 70's. Yum.
Deletehttps://images.app.goo.gl/2x7u3Movd9cQm8Rz5
Nice!
DeleteRight?!
DeleteAlthough that happens to be a blurry version of that image.
If you go to airmail.com and search for Tony Tetro you'd see a sharper version. Again, yum!!
I certainly don't approve of some of Caravaggio's actions, but some of his paintings are very interesting. I visit other sites which have used a number of his paintings.
ReplyDeleteI should probably give him his own series.
DeleteJust a couple of additional notes--this is the only ceiling painting he ever did and it is an oil on plaster painting, rather than the fresco we might expect to find on a ceiling. Looking forward to a series someday!
ReplyDeleteThen it's a rarity on two dfferent levels!
DeleteOh please, pornography and Caravaggio in the same phrase...men were not so ashamed to show their sexual organs, it is nature nothing else.
ReplyDeleteWho used pornography and Caravaggio in the same phrase? I did use them in the same caption, but the porn reference was to an unattributed series of frescoes on the ceiling of a Mantua palace boudoir. The works in question, which I quite enjoyed, showed a heterosexual couple (or was it couples?) in a series of graphic sex acts that could best be viewed while in bed. If i didn't think it was natural for men to show their sex organs, I woudn'b be producing this blog.
Delete