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Caravaggio

 Francine Prose describes Caravaggio and his interest in miracles. Caravaggio made us aware:


that these miracles had transpired neither in primary colors, nor in brilliantly hued paintings of sanitized saints and celestial fireworks, but in dusty streets and dark rooms much like the streets and rooms in which he himself lived.


With Caravaggio, we see the Biblical scene, but we also see Renaissance-era Europeans in the act of posing. Caravaggio wants us to know that he is painting "actors" or performers.

Many Renaissance images of Mary Magdalene are at least partly erotic; Caravaggio goes another way. His penitent Magdalene is not a Hollywood pinup. She wears contemporary clothing, and her image "avoids pathos and languid sensuality." 

Caravaggio's earthiness makes me think of Sondheim:


You can pull all the stops out
Till they call the cops out--
Grind your behind till you're banned...
But you gotta get a GIMMICK...
If you want to get a hand...


There are currently three--not two--Caravaggios on view at the Met. The standard St. Peter. The standard musicians. But also "The Holy Family," on loan from a private collection.





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