{"id":335,"date":"2010-07-22T12:28:34","date_gmt":"2010-07-22T12:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/?p=335"},"modified":"2010-07-22T13:12:21","modified_gmt":"2010-07-22T13:12:21","slug":"does-it-matter-who-killed-caravaggio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/2010\/07\/22\/does-it-matter-who-killed-caravaggio\/","title":{"rendered":"Does it matter who killed Caravaggio ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I watched Andrew Graham-Dixon\u2019s programme, Who Killed Caravaggio?<\/a><\/em> on BBC4 over the weekend. Caravaggio\u2019s life (and death) are shrouded in violence, mystery, and a good deal of moodily-lit art.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a>
Keep your head: 'David with the head of Goliath,' Caravaggio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whilst the programme was interesting, it did make me think: does it matter ? By which I mean, does it matter to an appreciation of his art, solving the mystery of how and why he died ?<\/p>\n

What we can forget, especially in the presence of great art \u2013 music, painting, literature or poetry \u2013 is that artists are like us: human. Caravaggio\u2019s life<\/a> was peppered with incidents (according to the programme) of sexual jealousy, a duel in which he killed his opponent, periods on the run, and artistic creativity. Like most people, Caravaggio was prey to the same desires, phobias and emotions as all of us: he just happened to paint as well. And rather brilliantly.<\/p>\n

Of course, knowing that particular pictures were painted during a time when he was a fugitive and had to paint quickly, or that they were created in order to establish a reputation amongst the plethora of artists competing for attention at the time, can enhance or widen your perception of a painting.<\/p>\n

But, ultimately, a\u00a0work of art is experienced by meeting it at a particular moment, on your own terms.\u00a0What led to its inception, the circumstances under which it was created, or its original intended audience or display-space: these factors don\u2019t necessarily impact on the moment you view a painting or your reaction to experiencing it. They may inform your understanding, but your visceral or emotional reaction to it is perhaps beyond the biographical accounts of the artist\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Graham-Dixon thinks that, after ten years of research<\/a>, he has finally solved the mystery of Caravaggio\u2019s death: murdered by one of the Knights of Jerusalem after he apparently escaped being imprisoned on Malta for sodomy. That\u2019s all very worthy: but humanising him and investigating the facts of his life won\u2019t add anything to his work for me. Like the work of great artists, no matter how human his story, Caravaggio\u2019s art\u00a0transcends all the squalor.<\/p>\n

—-<\/p>\n

Posted by\u00a0Daniel Harding<\/strong>, Deputy Director of Music at the\u00a0University of Kent<\/a>. \u00a0Click\u00a0here<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>to view his Music Matters blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I watched Andrew Graham-Dixon\u2019s programme, Who Killed Caravaggio? on BBC4 over the weekend. Caravaggio\u2019s life (and death) are shrouded in violence, mystery, and a good deal of moodily-lit art. Whilst the programme was interesting, it did make me think: does it matter ? By which I mean, does it matter to an appreciation of his … Continue reading “Does it matter who killed Caravaggio ?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":620,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1316,1142],"tags":[1317],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/620"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":344,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions\/344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}