Viewing a rare Caravaggio up close
Summary
A 1606 painting by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, which resurfaced only in 2014, comes up for viewing at the KNMA
Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, a 1606 painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, is as fascinating for its intriguing history as for its style. Painted by the Italian Baroque artist towards the end of his short lifespan—he died at the age of 38 in 1610—this canvas was believed to have been lost for centuries. The oil painting resurfaced in 2014 in a private collection and was authenticated as an original by a team of specialists including Mina Gregori, an Italian art historian and a Caravaggio scholar. Since then, Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy has been shown at select exhibitions across the world, and now is on display at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Delhi, in partnership with the cultural centre of the Italian embassy.
Roobina Karode, director and chief curator, KNMA, who has long admired Caravaggio, was all for this opportunity to bring an original artwork by the artist to the Capital. “It is a rare opportunity to make an artwork from the past accessible to the audience. We keep going back to these masterpieces as they stir us, and are a powerful part of a tradition. Art has that moving quality; it speaks through time to different generations—it might speak differently, but it does. This is an opportunity to view it in a different context and setting within a museum right here in Delhi," she says.
Caravaggio has been hailed as one of the Baroque era’s most significant masters. He burst on to the scene some 150 years after the Renaissance and had a profound impact on the way religious art, especially Biblical themes, was painted. His style, especially the use of chiaroscuro and naturalistic treatment, continues to resonate even today. “Caravaggio upended the traditional canons of his time, introducing in his works models from real life and a cinematic lighting," commented the Italian ambassador Antonio Bartoli at the unveiling of the painting.
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Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy was painted while the artist was in exile after being charged for murder. For Prof. Giulia Silvia Ghia, art historian, curator, and conservator, who was part of the painting’s restoration team, it is always exciting to find and identify works that have been considered lost. In Caravaggio’s case, this becomes all the more fascinating because of the life he led. “Even before he absconded (from Rome to Naples) after killing a man in a duel, he led a life defined by irregular behaviour and was quite promiscuous. That means that apart from the works made for churches or for family collections, those that he did as private commissions in Rome moved hand to hand until the authorship was lost, much like the painting on view in Delhi," says Ghia, who is also councillor for culture in the municipality of Rome.
Aside from the tumultuous events that took place in his life, Caravaggio defied prescribed notions of how a religious narrative should be painted. “He broke away from the Renaissance artistic ideals and invented a dramatic style of painting that gave an edge to the narrative and a mysterious theatricality,“ explains Karode. In fact, one of the most important aspects of his practice was to bring his art close to a lived experience. He modelled sacred figures on commoners, be it figures from the streets, brothels, and more.
The use of light and shadow to create sharp and high contrast was another of his signatures. He piqued the viewer’s curiosity by leaving certain things ambiguous and shrouded in mystery. He would nearly never reveal a full pictorial setting. “You wouldn’t know the location of where this narrative is unfurling—is it in a city, town or forest? That was another thing that he invented," elaborates Karode.
Ghia concurs and believes that the defining aspect of his practice was the way light shaped the bodies. In her view, he built the composition in a way that the viewers would feel they are witnessing it on stage. “The strength of Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy is profoundly generated by the position of the body (diagonal line from bottom left to upper right). The redand-white drape, the hands and the hair fill the lower part so that the attention is condensed on the neck, the lips and the eyes in the dramatic light that colours the skin in a unique way," she says. In her note about the painting, Gregori states that this Magdalene is without a doubt an original: her hands are enough to understand this. She goes on to explain that the hands are the distinctive element of the original works by Caravaggio; the strong wrists and hands, in livid colours and wonderful variations of nuances and light, with part of the fingers in shade, are the striking and intense element of this painting as well.
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In fact, in Caravaggio’s work, most of the emotion is contained in the dramatic posture of the body. Karode cites the example of an elongated hand with the finger pointing, the slouching of the back, or in this case where Mary Magdalene can be seen reclining. “It feels like he has captured a momentary posture. This twist and stretch in the body lends a sense of immediacy which I find extremely appealing," she says.
She shares the example of another of his famous works—Supper at Emmaus—in which he depicts Jesus Christ after his resurrection. While this story had been painted by many artists in the past, Caravaggio treats it differently. He gives Christ a new, slightly dishevelled look, as if in disguise after the resurrection. The old disciples fail to recognise him. “It is only when he breaks the bread and tastes the wine that one of the apostles pushes back his chair and throws up his hand recognising their Lord. Caravaggio painted this moment of emotional outburst, of revelation in the most dramatic way. He humanised the emotions of his subjects, be it Christ or Mary Magdalene," says Karode.
The figure of Mary Magdalene too has long fascinated many artists. A lot of painters in the past have also tackled the subject of saints experiencing ecstasy, who are usually shown ascending through the clouds with their eyes shut. However, in this painting, Caravaggio has placed Magdalene close to the ground. “Her eyes are half open. It conveys that she is not dreaming or sleeping. The ecstasy is being experienced both physically and spiritually. There is a tear flowing down from one eye. It is something that we can relate to— something that is a part of a lived human experience," says Karode.
The project at the KNMA is part of a special showcase dedicated to Caravaggio’s artistic legacy and its impact on global art history. It also features screening of documentaries and a virtual reality experience for a more immersive engagement with Caravaggio and his practice. “The use of light that he invented affected generations of artists to the point that there is a pre-Caravaggio and post-Caravaggio history of painting in Europe. Seeing his paintings is a real experience— one which triggers a deeply intimate and emotionally-charged response," says Ghia.
At KNMA Saket, Delhi, till 18 May, 10.30am-6.30pm (closed on Monday and national holidays)
