giaminneci

Ceramics in Rome

One of my favorite parts of our trip was creating our ceramic pieces in the C.R.E.T.A. Rome Studio. The process itself was really fun for me; I’ve never made ceramics before so I was a bit nervous it wouldn’t go well, but I ended up enjoying shaping the clay and carving the designs. The studio time made me more excited for my ceramics class in the spring semester. Another aspect of the project that I really appreciated was the way it made me look deeper at the art and spaces around me. By tasking us to integrate Roman art and culture inspiration into our pieces, I found myself looking more closely at the world than I would have otherwise. Every wall, pillar, ceiling, and floor design was examined and I think it allowed me to have a greater appreciation for the city and its culture.

The three things that inspired my work the most were the ceiling of the Museum of Rome, a small ceramic frog in the Capitaline Museum, and the wall of a chapel I visited. I especially liked when the pieces I pulled were integrated with my own marks, particularly in the tile. I drew inspiration from the carvings on the wall, but I ended up making the tile design entirely my own through my own personal style and finding creative solutions to fill space.

Favorite Part of Rome

One of my favorite parts of this trip was seeing the work of one of my favorite artists in person. No matter how many times I saw images of Caravaggio’s work on computer screens, nothing compared to seeing them in person. The pieces covering St. Matthew’s life were especially fun to see because I had researched them prior to coming to Rome in anticipation of seeing them and it really paid off in my opinion. I was able to be knowledgeable about the content and structure before seeing them, which led to a greater appreciation and depth to my experience.

Caravaggio’s painting, Judith Beheading Holofernes, is one of my all-time favorite paintings of art history and it was beyond amazing to be in front of it. The vivacity of the colors and the depth of the scene are literally breathtaking and seeing it in person was nothing compared to seeing it on a screen. I had been told that before, but I had never fully understood the sentiment until now. The scale of his pieces adds to the overall experience and you get sucked into the Baroque expressions of strong emotion and movement.

I’m so grateful to see so many of Caravaggio’s pieces, but I was extremely sad to see so many of his pieces gone from the galleries we visited. There were many pieces of his that I would have been able to see, but they were on loan to a different show during our visit. While this breaks my heart a bit, nothing will compare to seeing the pieces I was able to experience.

Caravaggio in the Contarelli Chapel

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, better known as Caravaggio, was born in Caravaggio, Italy on September 29, 1571, and died in July of 1610. His name, da Caravaggio, means “of/from Caravaggio,” a small town 25 miles east of Milan. His title identified him in the art world and distinguished him from the well-known artist, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. Caravaggio was a Baroque painter who focused mainly on hyperrealistic biblical subjects and depicted well-known stories as visceral, dramatic scenes. His specific method of painting was influenced by the Catholic Church’s propagandistic artistic approach at the time, which was a hallmark of the Counter-Reformation. The Counter-Reformation was a large part of the Baroque aesthetic and defined its subject matter. The Counter-Reformation was a direct response to the Protestant Reformation and the Renaissance; the Catholic Church was receiving a lot of criticism for its worldliness and corruption, so it decided to follow the Baroque aesthetic that existed in opposition to the Renaissance. Catholic art in the Baroque period was focused on promoting their new values and advertising the church as relatable and accessible to the average person. Caravaggio realized this through using people he met in public as models. He gave religious figures and scenes an ordinary, approachable visage.

*The Calling of Saint Matthew* and *The Inspiration of Saint Matthew* side by side in the Contarelli Chapel

Caravaggio did a three-piece exploration into the life of St. Matthew, two of which exist side by side in the Contarelli Chapel. These pieces are The Calling of Saint Matthew, painted in 1600, and The Inspiration of Saint Matthew, painted in 1602. The third piece, The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew from 1600, is in the Church of St. Louis the French.

The subject matter, the life and death of St. Matthew, matches the Counter-Reformation values. In the first piece, St. Matthew is a corrupt individual, making his money by cheating other people and over-collecting people’s tax money to keep for himself. Jesus singles him out in this room, asking Matthew to join him and Matthew is stunned. Jesus, depicted as a normal man, not at the center of attention in the image, is calling a corrupt person, hated by society, to join him on his mission. While the people are simple, the setting and painting are anything but simple. In typical Baroque fashion, this piece is dramatic with the people frozen in many different emotions. The lighting is formed in Caravaggio’s signature chiaroscuro style with extreme darks and lights that give the piece dramatic tension and depth. The direction of the light is also important in chiaroscuro because it usually has a specific purpose. The light is coming from behind Jesus, which lights up the faces of the people facing him. Although not the literal light source, this light signifies that Jesus is the light in the room, marking him as a holy presence. The illuminated faces point to the enlightenment of Jesus’s presence and purpose on Earth. He brings his golden light into this dingy, dark room where immoral people cheat others. The light also exalts Jesus by shining off his thin golden halo, almost unnoticeable. In common Baroque and Counter-Reformation fashion, this simple halo goes against the gaudy, giant halos that were common in the Renaissance. Compositionally, the light beam is a strong downward diagonal that points the viewer toward the table. It is debated which person at the table is Matthew; some people think it is the bearded man and he is pointing at himself in surprise as if to ask “Me?” while others think it could be the younger man hiding his face as the bearded man points to him at the end of the table. It appears to be purposely ambiguous, which lends to the commonality of the subjects and the strong emotion of the piece. We feel as if we are in the room, just as shocked and confused as the figures, trying to figure out who Jesus is calling. This identification aspect is furthered by the bottom-heavy composition. All the figures are halfway down the canvas, placing them on our level and giving the illusion of our inclusion.

The piece next to this and the next piece in the chronology of Matthew’s life is The Inspiration of Saint Matthew. This piece has no ambiguity over who Matthew is, instead featuring him front and center. Unlike the first piece, Matthew has earned his halo, which marks him as holy. Still, he looks like a normal person with his bare feet, his ordinary clothes, and his ribcage visible, showing the poverty of Jesus and his disciples from both their lack of profession and their humble way of life. Matthew and the angel are in a liminal space outside of geography and time; they exist in a pure black void on a stone slab floor. This otherworldly plane is used often in Caravaggio’s work as a way to depict figures as greater than earthly without the gaudy glorification of the Renaissance. Another Baroque connection is the continued use of chiaroscuro. The lighting is much less harsh in this piece than in the first, illuminating most of the figures to give them detail and focus. Matthew is the brightest figure in the piece, the light fading out as the eye moves away from his face and torso. This light has no clear source, instead coming from in front of, to the left, and slightly above Matthew’s face. This piece also has more motion than the first. It appears that Matthew is rushing to his table, almost toppling over his stool in his hurry to write down what the angel is saying to him. The clothes draping over the angel’s body also have a beautiful sense of motion, impossibly flowing around their figure. Interestingly, the angel’s wings are black, almost blending into the background. This is very unlike past depictions of angels where their wings are their most beautiful, prominent feature. The positioning of the angel is very strange; they appear to be everywhere and nowhere. Looking at the piece straight on, the angel appears to be straight above Matthew due to the direction of the figure. Looking through a different perspective, the angel appears to be above and behind him due to the tilt of their head and the position of their shoulders. Upon closer inspection, however, they appear to be above and in front of Matthew due to the direction of Matthew’s head and the shadows on the angel’s body. Matthew’s face is very serious as he writes his gospel after the words the angel dictates. Caravaggio likely chose to depict Matthew in this scene because he is shown as being compelled to share the word of the angel. This matches his name, which is derived from the words manus and theos, which means the Hand of God. When these pieces were commissioned for the chapel, they were intended to be viewed side by side. However, with this new configuration where The Inspiration of Saint Matthew is above the altar, it is viewable from every area of the chapel. This is to highlight the importance of the Gospel and the holiness of Matthew’s inspiration.

Overall, these pieces are gorgeous examples of the Baroque style and they tell us about the culture and values of the Catholic Church in the 17th century. Their warm color palettes and dark shadows tie them together visually and they work together in the church to engage the congregation and remind them of what’s important. I love Caravaggio’s ability to tell an entire story with one canvas and his use of chiaroscuro is so compelling to me. His use of perspective and leading lines to create the illusion of depth was revolutionary for the future of art. His pieces draw you in and keep your attention as the longer you look, the more you are rewarded with details and depth.

Contemporary – Maurizio Cattelan

Contemporary art is art by artists living today. It’s the age of art that follows the Modern aesthetic which arguably with the death of Andy Warhol in 1987. Contemporary art, like most other artistic periods, reflects the social and political issues people face. Common themes include technology, the climate crisis, the wars happening around the world, systems of oppression, and more.

One theme I find particularly interesting is contemporary artists questioning what art can be. This theme draws from the Dada period, which happened in the era of World War II when people were stretching the limits of the label of “art” in active defiance of Hitler’s ideas and ethics. One famous example is Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain from 1917, which is a urinal lying on its back with the signature “R. Mutt.” Dada was a loose, childlike, sarcastic, and bizarre art style and I think that contemporary artists draw from this same energy to channel it in a new way.

One piece that stands out to me is Comedian by Maurizio Cattelan from 2019. Cattelan is a well-known contemporary Italian artist and his pieces often seek to shock and confuse. The piece consists of a ripe banana taped to the gallery wall with silver duct tape. There were three editions made of this sculpture, which included a certificate of authenticity and a list of instructions on how to precisely tape a banana to the wall. This piece seeks to shock the viewer a bit, to make them question why this piece is worthy of an art museum. It’s also an inquiry into creativity; a common complaint of odd contemporary art is “I could have done that.” Cattelan and other artists respond to this backlash by earning their place in the gallery, saying “But you didn’t. I did.” Anyone could have duct-taped a banana to a wall, but Cattelan was the first to do it and call it art, which aligns perfectly with contemporary art’s tendency to stretch the definition of art as far as it will go.

With strange art like this, people tend to interact with it while trying to interpret it. In May 2023, a South Korean art student named Noh Huyn-soo took Comedian off the wall and ate it, sticking the peel back to the wall when he was finished. He did this because he saw the message as a “rebellion against a certain authority.” He was quoted saying “There could be another rebellion against the rebellion” (Wang, 2023).

I understand that the concepts behind contemporary art can be difficult to understand and contemporary art is often hit or miss with their audience, but I find it extremely valuable. While I don’t always love contemporary art aesthetically, I think the purpose behind contemporary art is always something we need to be aware of as a culture. Artists speak up on the issues they see in the world, which generates artifacts for generations to come. Art of any given time period gives a cultural and historical insight that allows the people of the future to better understand our current reality, so I find value in all art whether I like it or not. I do like Comedian though because I think it’s funny to earn that much money and create such a large impact with such a simple piece of art.

Baroque – Caravaggio

The Baroque style emerged most notably in the 17th century and is centered around appealing to the senses to create emotional responses in the viewer. Its name comes from the Portuguese word barroco, which is the name for an unusually shaped pearl. The art is dramatic and grand, seeking to diverge from traditional established rules. It was a major part of the Counter-Reformation, as Mannerism was no longer serving to relay emotional scenes adequately. Religious figures were becoming more relatable and accessible to the average person as a part of the propagandistic approach the Church had been utilizing in direct contrast to the glorified, otherworldly depictions of religious figures in the Reformation.

*The Calling of Saint Matthew* – Caravaggio, 1600

Caravaggio is one artist who received backlash for his representations of Jesus in the Counter-Reformation era. For example, in Caravaggio’s The Calling of Saint Matthew, which was completed in 1600, we see Jesus pointing at St. Matthew, asking him to join Jesus. In this painting, Jesus is almost in the background, not the focal point of the painting; he could be any ordinary man. This was very upsetting to people at the time because of the common understanding of who Jesus should be. At that time, the religious focus was centered largely around how unworthy of Jesus’s sacrifice ordinary people were and how they needed to atone for their worldly sins to enter heaven. If people viewed humanity as unworthy sinners, it was blasphemous to depict Jesus in paintings as a random man off the street. To further the scandal, the man isn’t glorified in a way consistent with the art at the time. He’s only distinguished through his role in the scene and his thin, almost unnoticeable gold halo. The painting utilizes a muted, warm color palette to give the room a dingy energy, suggesting that potentially unsavory or immoral events take place here, which points to St. Matthew’s history of theft and cheating people. In this piece, we also see an example of chiaroscuro, the style of dramatic lights and darks, to create highly emotional scenes with three-dimensional value. The light comes from behind Jesus, which makes the faces of the figures at the table illuminated. Even though the literal light source is clearly coming from the sun through a window or door, the direction of the light communicates that Jesus is the metaphorical light in this room, a holy presence in the shady environment. The light source also creates a strong diagonal line, which draws the viewer’s eye through the piece and gives the piece a certain tension when combined with the inaction of the poses of the figures. The figures in this painting are all representational and highly detailed, giving ordinary figures a grand presence through lighting and form, which is a hallmark of the Baroque style.

*The Calling of Saint Matthew* and *The Inspiration of Saint Matthew* in context

*The Inspiration of Saint Matthew* – Caravaggio, 1602

This piece lives in context next to Caravaggio’s The Inspiration of Saint Matthew, finished in 1602. This placement gives a short timeline of St. Matthew’s life, showing a before and after of his conversion.

*The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew* – Caravaggio, 1600

The third painting of St. Matthew by Caravaggio, The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew from 1600, gives a fuller lifespan, but it is not located with the other two in the Contarelli Chapel, instead housed at the Church of St. Louis of the French.

I love the dramatic style of the Baroque era. There’s a richness to the colors and forms that I really appreciate. Caravaggio is one of my favorite artists because I love how he chooses to depict well-known Biblical stories and portray characters in a new way. I find chiaroscuro very captivating; the dramatic lights and darks give everything a very serious, dramatic depth that draws you in and makes you stay as you uncover details hidden in the dark areas.

Culture Post

I am super excited to experience Italian culture, especially food and drink. I’ve heard great things about Italian dining and the cultural meal structure; I’m looking forward to experiencing these differences so I can integrate Italian meal philosophies into my everyday life. My grandparents immigrated from Italy when they were young and their culture is very important to their lives. They live in Florida now, so I’m not able to share these mealtime rituals with them in person, but I’m hoping by experiencing them firsthand in Italy, I’ll feel more connected to them. As a coffee lover, I am particularly interested in going to some Italian coffee shops, to see both the cultural difference in how consuming caffeine is approached and the taste difference. After doing some research, I found that Italian coffee shops work very differently from American coffee shops and the etiquette is opposite to our etiquette, so it’ll be a learning curve!

I am also really looking forward to seeing iconic works of art that hold vital roles in human history and inform contemporary art and thought. One specific example is the broken sculpture of Colossus of Constantine. This piece is a conversation on the utilization of scale to convey power as well as ancient depictions of authority. I find it very compelling and I think this is a piece that doesn’t convey its true essence through a picture. Another piece I’m really looking forward to seeing is Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling. This work is extremely influential to the art world and its panels have been visually quoted in popular culture for generations, so I’d love to see this huge influence on art history in person. The Sistine Chapel Ceiling is talked about often in my art classes as well as Michelangelo’s work in general, so it’s very important to me to be able to interact with his work face to face.

I’m really excited to spend time in Italy to connect with my family and to see the art that has made such an immense impact on my life and the art world. I’m looking forward to Italian cuisine and I hope I can figure out how Italian coffee shops work.