Many were shocked by Caravaggio’s work, believing it to be sacrilegious and irreverent, but it was also widely admired. Caravaggio became overwhelmed with commissions to produce more large-scale, powerfully expressive canvases, which featured his dramatic foreshortening and striking use of chiaroscuro—strong light contrasted with deep shadow. However, because of his violent disposition, he was persistently in trouble with the law. In 1606, he became involved in a murder and fled from Rome. He found refuge in various places, including Naples, Sicily and Malta, always painting to earn a living. Eventually he heard of the Pope’s pardon, but never reached Rome as he died from a fever on his eventful return journey.
Key Works
The Cardsharps c.1594, KIMBELL ART MUSEUM, FORT WORTH, TX, US
The Crucifixion of Saint Peter 1601, CERASI CHAPEL, SANTA MARIA DEL POPOLO, ROME, ITALY
Death of the Virgin 1601–6, MUSÉE DU LOUVRE, PARIS, FRANCE
The Deposition 1604, PINACOTECA VATICANA, ROME, ITALY
RUBENS
1577–1640 • BAROQUE
Samson and Delilah
c.1609–10 OIL ON WOOD
185 × 205 CM (72 × 80¾ IN)
NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, UK
Influenced by Caravaggio and Michelangelo, Rubens has depicted a candlelit interior in which the Jewish hero Samson lies asleep in the lap of his lover, the Philistine Delilah. Bribed by the Philistines, Delilah had discovered that Samson’s strength came from his uncut hair. While Samson sleeps, one of the Philistines cuts his hair to drain him of his strength. More Philistines wait at the door, ready to capture Samson.
Usually classed as the supreme Baroque painter of northern Europe, Peter Paul Rubens had great energy and many interests and was one of the era’s most versatile, original and prolific artists. Extremely successful—he and his large workshop in Antwerp produced a huge number of works—he also played an important diplomatic role in politics.
The son of a Flemish court official and lawyer, Rubens was born in Germany, but soon moved to Antwerp. He began training with local artists when he was about 14. In 1598 he graduated as an independent master from the Antwerp painters’ guild and then traveled to Italy. Stunned by the works of Michelangelo and Titian, and the treasures of antiquity, his work immediately began to change. In 1603, he traveled to Spain on a diplomatic mission and saw Philip II’s collections of Raphael and Titian. He returned to Italy in 1604 for four years.
Italy’s impact on Rubens was profound. In 1608 he returned to Antwerp, where his reputation preceded him. In order to satisfy the huge demand for his work, he began his own workshop and the following year he was appointed court painter to the rulers of the Netherlands, the Archduke Albert and his wife Isabella. Rubens’s intelligence, charm, linguistic skills and shrewd business sense were noticed and he traveled on many diplomatic missions for his royal patrons. The greatest part of his work, however, was altarpieces; great undertakings featuring voluptuous figures, vigorous brushwork and brilliant colors. He rose at four each morning and worked until five in the evening. While painting, he employed someone to read to him from classical literature. In 1622, Rubens was commissioned by Marie de’ Medici, the widow of Henry IV of France. The monumental project required two galleries in the Luxembourg Palace in Paris to be decorated with two allegorical cycles celebrating the lives of the queen and her late husband. It was a difficult commission in many ways. Marie was unpredictable and her favorite, Cardinal Richelieu, saw Rubens as a political threat. Eventually, the project was abandoned half completed when Maria was banished from court by her son, Henry V. Yet the vast cycle of 24 paintings shows Rubens’s fiery approach: a blend of portraits, history and allegory on 4-meter (13-ft) high canvases, which the artist painted single-handedly.
The demand for Rubens’s work was extraordinary, but with his energy, organizational skills and speedy working methods, he completed countless paintings in his exuberant, fluid and colorful style. Popular throughout Europe, he was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain (who commissioned over 80 paintings) and Charles I of England. He also produced book illustrations and designed sculpture and architectural details and tapestries. During his lifetime, he was described as a “prince of painters and painter of princes” and on his death he was mourned as one of the great men of his age.
Key Works
The Raising of the Cross 1610–11, CATHEDRAL OF OUR LADY, ANTWERP, BELGIUM
The Descent from the Cross 1611–12, ANTWERP CATHEDRAL, ANTWERP, BELGIUM
Daniel in the Lion’s Den c.1615, NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON, DC, US
The Arrival of Marie de’ Medici at Marseilles 1622–5, MUSÉE DU LOUVRE, PARIS, FRANCE
The Three Graces MID-1630s, MUSEO DEL PRADO, MADRID, SPAIN
GENTILESCHI
1593–1652/3 • BAROQUE
Judith Slaying Holofernes
c.1612–21 OIL ON CANVAS
199 × 162 CM (78 × 64 IN)
GALLERIA DEGLI UFFIZI, FLORENCE, ITALY
This painting of the Jewish heroine, Judith, decapitating the Assyrian tyrant, Holofernes, for trying to rape her is a powerful expression of the artist’s own distress. It is believed that the depiction was a way in which she could psychologically extract her revenge.
One of the first female painters to gain recognition in the male-dominated world of 17th-century art, Artemisia Gentileschi’s powerful and ambitious works reflect her own dramatic life history.
In an age when women artists were severely restricted in their study of art, in what subjects they depicted and in gaining commissions, Roman-born Gentileschi was the first female to paint major historical and religious scenes. Daughter of the artist Orazio Gentileschi (1563–c.1639), she learned to paint directly on to canvas in her father’s workshop. Influenced by her father’s Mannerist style, and the work of Bronzino (1503–72) and Pontormo (1494–1556), and especially Caravaggio, despite the difficulties she experienced in such a male-dominated world, she developed her own strong and distinctive Baroque style.
Regardless of her skills, as a female Gentileschi was not allowed to enter art academies, so her father hired the painter Agostino Tassi (1578–1644) to teach her privately. In 1611, Tassi raped her. Her father pressed charges, Tassi was arrested, tried publicly and sentenced to a year’s imprisonment, although he never served the time. During the trial, however, Gentileschi was both humiliated and tortured as the Roman courts tried to establish whether or not she was telling the truth. A month after the trauma of the trial, Orazio arranged for her to marry a Florentine artist, Pierantonio Stiattesi, and the couple moved to Florence. Her experiences impacted on her work and opposing conventions for female artists, she produced forceful and violent paintings featuring confident women from myth and the Bible who assert their strength in adversity. The dramatic realism and chiaroscuro of Caravaggio proved to be the most powerful influence on her style, and, like his, her images are full of passion and emotion. She achieved huge success, building up friendships with the most respected artists of the day and gaining the favors and protection of influential individuals, including Cosimo II de’ Medici and his wife. Charles I of England was also one of her patrons.