The Essay - Reflections on Caravaggio - Episode 2

The Milanese painter, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio has intrigued the modern imagination more than any other old master. Renowned in his own time for the innovative and shocking realism of his paintings, often celebrated nowadays for the tempestuous lifestyle which informed his work, he is remembered as the creator of art that influenced and inspired. 400 years after his death in July 1610 these portraits of the painter offer a series of personal responses to his work, life and legacy. Tonight's essay is by Professor Sybille Ebert-Schifferer, Director at the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max Planck Institute in Rome, and author of the monograph Caravaggio, Sehen - Staunen - Glauben [see - be amazed - believe]. She considers his art both sophisticated and unprecedented, and insists that we need to appreciate the values of the age he lived in, in order to understand the painter and his work. Ever socially ambitious, Caravaggio had an overwhelming sense of honour which, when it led to violence, could bring him harm, but it was his ability to create meraviglia, or wonder, in his art that earned him the appreciation of princes and people alike.