Gordon Bennett Essay
Death of the Virgin
Caravaggio 1605-1606.
12’ 1 ½” x 8’.
Oil on canvas
For Sanata Maria della Scala, Trastevere, Rome. Now in Louvre, Paris
In 1605, Laerzio Cherubini commissioned Caravaggio to paint an altarpiece for his family’s chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Scala in Trastevere, Rome. The chapel was dedicated to the Transit of the Virgin. There was a particular decorum for the depiction of such a scene: the Virgin giving a pious gesture, some sort of ascension of Her soul, and clouds of angels. Caravaggio disregarded all of these rules and painted a bloated, inappropriately adorned Mary as if she were an ordinary mortal. For these reasons, the Carmelite clergy of the church rejected it. From there, it fell into the hands of the duke of Mantua, Charles I of England, a bank collector, Louis XIV, then to the Louvre in 1793 where it is today (Moir 106).
Caravaggio’s dead Virgin offended its viewers. She appeared very dead, bloated in fact, with so hint of miraculousness about her. She has no energy whatsoever to raise a hand in gesture. Her bare feet and ankles are uncovered. She is in a very poor setting. Helen Langdon argues that this emphasis on naturalism and poverty was Caravaggio’s way of refuting the Protestant attacks on the cult of the Virgin. He shows a very human Mary, the poor mother of Christ. Langdon even suggests the Virgin’s swollen belly represents her miraculous pregnancy (even though she was not pregnant when she died) (248-250). The Virgin’s resemblance Caravaggio’s lover and prostitute, Lena probably distracted contemporary viewers of this painting from understanding the real meaning behind the naturalism (Lena had drowned in a river, so Caravaggio was able to use her dead body as a model). But it was merely characteristic of Caravaggio to paint from life and to paint incredibly naturalistic figures and situations.
The lack of divinity presented in this composition is also a reason the original patrons
Caravaggio 1605-1606.
12’ 1 ½” x 8’.
Oil on canvas
For Sanata Maria della Scala, Trastevere, Rome. Now in Louvre, Paris
In 1605, Laerzio Cherubini commissioned Caravaggio to paint an altarpiece for his family’s chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Scala in Trastevere, Rome. The chapel was dedicated to the Transit of the Virgin. There was a particular decorum for the depiction of such a scene: the Virgin giving a pious gesture, some sort of ascension of Her soul, and clouds of angels. Caravaggio disregarded all of these rules and painted a bloated, inappropriately adorned Mary as if she were an ordinary mortal. For these reasons, the Carmelite clergy of the church rejected it. From there, it fell into the hands of the duke of Mantua, Charles I of England, a bank collector, Louis XIV, then to the Louvre in 1793 where it is today (Moir 106).
Caravaggio’s dead Virgin offended its viewers. She appeared very dead, bloated in fact, with so hint of miraculousness about her. She has no energy whatsoever to raise a hand in gesture. Her bare feet and ankles are uncovered. She is in a very poor setting. Helen Langdon argues that this emphasis on naturalism and poverty was Caravaggio’s way of refuting the Protestant attacks on the cult of the Virgin. He shows a very human Mary, the poor mother of Christ. Langdon even suggests the Virgin’s swollen belly represents her miraculous pregnancy (even though she was not pregnant when she died) (248-250). The Virgin’s resemblance Caravaggio’s lover and prostitute, Lena probably distracted contemporary viewers of this painting from understanding the real meaning behind the naturalism (Lena had drowned in a river, so Caravaggio was able to use her dead body as a model). But it was merely characteristic of Caravaggio to paint from life and to paint incredibly naturalistic figures and situations.
The lack of divinity presented in this composition is also a reason the original patrons