Transforming Caravaggio: an artist and his influence

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Caravaggio and his Followers in Rome

Edited by David Franklin & Sebastian Schütze

Caravaggio (1571–1610) reached the height of his career in Rome in the early 17th century.  Even though it was traditional for a painter of his stature to set up a workshop and train other artists, he never did. The dramatic impact of his works on a wide range of followers is therefore somewhat surprising.

Painters from Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands were influenced by Caravaggio’s works. Many of them never even met their master. Instead they had access to his works in churches and in the houses of some of the most illustrious patrons and collectors in Rome. They found inspiration in his wide range of subjects, including angels, saints, thieving gypsies, gamblers, sacrifices and beheadings. They incorporated Caravaggio’s narratives, his style and particular visual features into their own compositions. The relationship between Caravaggio and his followers is an exciting topic for a blockbuster exhibition (which was held at the National Gallery of Canada) and this is the accompanying publication.

The first part of the book focuses on Caravaggio, his followers and their patrons. It introduces the artist’s rise to fame with a discussion of his public church commissions. Caravaggio’s relationship to his followers is compared with a planetary system where the star is circled by different planets and satellites. There was a new fashion in Rome for gallery painting, something that facilitated the followers’ successes. Hung in galleries, the works of different artists could easily be compared and form a basis for intellectually stimulating conversation at social gatherings. Rosella Vodret’s contribution is notable for the well-informed entries on specific artists working in Rome, such as Mario Minniti and Carlo Saraceni, making use of data from the Roman parish registers. The concluding chapter, by Michael Fried, encourages scholars to take more seriously the followers, such as Bartolomeo Manfredi, Valentin de Boulogne and Nicholas Regnier. Fried argues that, rather than blindly copying, they were reformulating particular features of Caravaggio’s work, in order to develop a new paradigm for gallery painting.

The second section focuses on the paintings. The categories ‘early youths and musicians’, ‘fortune tellers’, ‘cardsharps and tavern scenes’, ‘individual saints’ and ‘religious compositions’ allow for precise examinations of how subjects were reinterpreted by the followers. For example, Simon Vouet transforms the narrative of his The Fortune-teller so that the gypsy becomes the innocent victim of the crime she would normally commit. Artemisia Gentileschi transforms Caravaggio’s reluctant and distressed Judith, who slices off the head of Holofernes at a distance, into a determined heroine, who firmly holds down his head as she hacks it off with a sword. Artistic method is an important topic treated throughout the catalogue. Even though Caravaggio was known for painting from life, it is clear that he invented on the basis of both close study of the real world as well as diligent consideration of the old masters. The catalogue demonstrates that Caravaggio’s followers were no mere copycats and that they used features of his works with great ingenuity and innovation.

The catalogue goes beyond simply being an accompaniment to the exhibition and offers a unique chance to compare works by some of the most exciting artists of the 17th century. It includes a couple of introductory essays before exploring the subject with a depth most suited to a scholar or a Caravaggio enthusiast. Its two parts are followed by a useful biographical reference section and an exhibition checklist. One of its selling points is the beautiful colour illustrations, covering the 65 works included in the exhibition as well as many others.

Caravaggio and his Followers in Rome by David Franklin & Sebastian Schützeis published by Yale University Press, 2011. 240pp, 150 colour illus. ISBN 9780300170726