Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ, 1602
Tenebrism
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Blog 9: Caravaggio
Born on September 29th, Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio was an innovative painter that is responsible for new art techniques such as tenebrism, or very pronounced chiaroscuro that creates a dramatic effect where the darkness is the dominant aspect of the image. When using tenebrism, Caravaggio also created controversy in his art. The pope, in fact, had a death warrant for him because he was so offended by his work. Because Caravaggio was so poor, he used common people he found on the streets of Rome (often prostitutes) as cheap models to pose for religious pieces. This insulted the pope highly due to the fact that Caravaggio represented holy iconic figures as cheap models.
Caravaggio was a renouned artist who painted many images, including secular and non secular paintings. His followers, called Caravaggistis, carried on his artistic methods in less extreme but noticeable forms of tenebrism and iconic allusions. His art was inspiring to many current artists today.
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Tenebrism, from the Italian word tenebroso, is a style of painting popularly used during the Baroque period of painting that utilizes very pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and where darkness becomes a dominating feature of the image. The technique was developed to add drama to an image through a spotlight effect, and usually creates many different focal points in an image.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Caravaggio was credited with the creation of the style, because he essentially gave it its fame, it was also used by many artists before him such as Albrecht Dürer, Tintoretto, and El Greco. El Greco painted three versions of a composition with a boy, a man, and a monkey grouped in darkness around a single flame. Among the most well-known tenebrist artists are, Italian and Dutch followers (the Utrecht School) of Caravaggio, Francisco Ribalta, Jusepe de Ribera, and their Spanish followers. It is also sometimes used to describe the work of other 17th century painters including Georges de La Tour, who painted many images lit by a single candle, Gerrit van Honthorst, and Rembrandt.
One of the most renown artists that adapted this technique from Caravaggio was Artemisia Gentileschi. She became famous for her beautiful and dramatic work with tenebrism. Her most famous piece, and a personal favorite of mine, is her depiction of Judith slaying Holfernes. This image is a beautiful display of her mastery of tenebrism and a nod to Caravaggio who essentially gave this technique it's fame and allowed for many other masterful paintings to be created by many other Caravaggistis.