James Bridle on Caravaggio’s second Supper at Emmaus and Basket of Fruit, both in Milan.
Why does he crop the images? Did Christ have “belief”, and isn’t his hand shown in a blessing, rather than a gesture of “explaining”? I mistrust the know-all tone of Peter Robb’s M, but that may be unfair.
The Basket of Fruit is not the only extant still-life. There is at least one other in the Borghese Gallery in Rome.
Bridle’s is a strong modern response to Caravaggio. For the Victorians Caravaggio did not exist. Joshua Reynolds does not mention him in his Seven Discourses on Art (delivered at the Royal Academy 1769-76). Nor does George Clausen in his Six Lectures on Painting and Aims and Ideals in Art (delivered at the Royal Academy 1904-6), an echo of Reynolds which expounded lessons from the Old Masters to modern students of painting.
February 9 2011 at 4:05 pm
I crop the images because they’re such awful reproductions, I didn’t want them to distract from the text. Viewing Caravaggio on the web doesn’t really compare, that’s sort of the point… And thanks for the reminder about the other still life, I’ve updated the post.
February 18 2011 at 7:49 pm
Caravaggio and the police:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12497978