Premium Only Content

God in the Body │The Physiological Theophany of Caravaggio │Understanding Art
Few artists have been as stormy and boisterous as Caravaggio. His stormy personality may have been the source of his unique style of painting. Caravaggio's paintings are dramatic. Caravaggio's technique creates a vivid reality. Even when he paints seemingly banal scenes, they are propped against a looming in the darkness, the shroud of some kind of lovecraftian eldritch horror pressing in on us. In terms of lighting and color, the images are dark, steeped in shadow. The best descriptor is perhaps to say that his paintings brood.
This is no less true of his religious paintings.
His St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness is dramatically different from contemporary depictions of John by fellow Italian artists Caracci and Albani, and previous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and Titian.
Caravaggio's John is strangely grim, strangely grim for a young man just on the cusp of high school.
But how old is he really? Is he 16 or 30? Shadow has taken him beyond age. Here is a young man who is weighed down with the gravity of his divine mission. Though a youth, he bears the weight of centuries.
Some 700 years before John the baptist lived, the prophet Isaiah prophesied that God himself would come to earth—somehow, in some form. When the king comes to town, a messenger is sent in front of him to prepare the people, because the king after all, deserves their acknowledgment, but more importantly, they need to get out of his way, clear the crowd, get out of the way. The messenger cries for the crowd to be parted. But When God comes to town, well, then the messenger cries for the valleys to be lifted up, the mountains to be leveled—not because God might be hindered, but because there must be no obstruction when the glory of the Yahweh shines.
Every Jew of the first century would have known this, including John, and moreover, his parents would have pointed to him and said—that is you—you are the one to clear the path for Yahweh—you and you alone.
I think it's bold for a painter to try and portray the truth of a human being, let alone a young human being, who faces the grim task of God before him. Kierkegaard often maintained that when a person gets involved with God, life becomes infinitely more difficult and strenuous—glorious, yes, but infinitely more strenuous. For Caravaggio to attempt to portray that is in and of itself the kind of brilliant insight that occurs only to geniuses—and to actually pull it off so that we feel and see that God-relationships is beyond astounding.
I can't help describing this painting as existential. Caravaggio biographer Peter Robb says, The painting demonstrates Caravaggio's "feeling for the drama of the human presence.” It is assertive. The painting claims the art museum for its own.
-
31:20
Empire of the Mind
2 years agoTHE MEANING of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE: How Government & Science Threaten to Pervert Human Beings
509 -
2:00:20
Glenn Greenwald
17 hours agoThe View from Moscow: Key Russian Analyst Aleksandr Dugin on Trump, Ukraine, Russia, and Globalism | SYSTEM UPDATE #414
153K67 -
1:10:55
Donald Trump Jr.
14 hours agoBREAKING NEWS: My Father Revokes Biden-Maduro Oil License, LIVE with Maria Corina Machado | Triggered Ep.220
218K202 -
1:25:29
Sarah Westall
12 hours agoX-Files True History, Project Blue Beam, Cabal Faction War w/ Former FBI Agent John DeSouza
93.9K29 -
7:03:49
Dr Disrespect
20 hours ago🔴LIVE - DR DISRESPECT - NEW PC VS. DELTA FORCE - MAX SETTINGS
180K29 -
49:04
Lights, Camera, Barstool
1 day agoIs The Monkey The Worst Movie Of The Year?? + Amazon Gets Bond
81.5K5 -
24:19
Adam Carolla
1 day agoDiddy’s Legal Drama Escalates, Smuggler Caught Hiding WHAT? + Philly Eagles & The White House #news
158K21 -
10:12
Mike Rowe
2 days agoClint Hill: What A Man. What A Life. | The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe
142K17 -
1:31:52
Redacted News
15 hours agoBOMBSHELL! This is war! FBI whistleblowers reveal Epstein files being destroyed? | Redacted News
209K392 -
48:55
Candace Show Podcast
16 hours agoSTOP EVERYTHING. They FINALLY Mentioned ME In The Blake Lively Lawsuit! | Candace Ep 152
179K141