THE CALLING OF SAINT MATTHEW Caravaggio
It was painted in July 1600, in Rome. It was commissioned by Cardinal Matteo Contarelli, but Francesco del Monte, who was Caravaggio´s patron, commissioned this painting. It´s an oil on canvas painting and it belongs to Baroque style. Its dimensions are 3.5 x3.25 m. The painting represents Christ´s call to Matthew, narrated on Saint Matthew´s gospel (9.9) “Christ saw a man called Mathew sat in a tax office, and he said “follow me” and Matthew stood and he followed him.” On the painting there are five men sitting around a table: three of them are younger than the other two. One of the young men has a sword and two men are wearing a hat with feathers. A man is counting the coins and standing next to him there´s a man with glasses who is staring at the coins. On the table there are an inkwell, a feather, a sac with coins and an open account book. On the right, next to the table there are two men standing up. One of them is wearing a cloak and carrying a cane. He is talking with the man of the sword and rising up his hand a little bit in a reassuring gesture. Next to him there is a young man with a silk shirt he is pointing at the man with white beard. This man is not sure if the other man is calling him and for that reason he is pointing at himself and making a gesture, trying to say “Me”? And the others continue counting the money.
The man of the cloak is Saint Peter, the young man with the silk shirt is Jesus Christ and the man with white beard is Saint Matthew. The young man with the hat with a feather is leaning on Saint Matthew and the man with the sword is trying to unsheathe it. Saint Matthew and these two men are the only ones who know that Jesus Christ and Saint Peter are inside the tax office. Jesus Christ is trying to go out of that place. His feet are towards the door. They are in a tax office, but there´s only a table a bank a chair and a window. This painting is divided into two grounds: the upper part occupied by the window and the lower part, which represents the call of Saint Matthew. They are common people some of them might be hoodlums or rogues and Christ is not the center of the painting. This was a very common Baroque characteristic. It´s a painting with a lot of chiaroscuros. This is called “tenebrism”: strong contrasts between the illuminated parts and the rest of the painting. Only the light that enters from the window illuminates Saint Matthew, Jesus Christ, Saint Peter and the two young men´s faces. Caravaggio tried to focus the attention on these persons. Caravaggio drew inspiration from two Renissance artists Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci, in the calling of Saint Matthew, Christ´s hand has the same posture as the hand of the Michelangelo´s creation of Adam and the five men sitting around the table evoke Da Vinci´s last Supper. The theme of this painting is that Christ can choose every kind of person. This theme comes from Counter-Reformation and it´s really symbolic. Now this painting is in the church of San Luigi del Francesi and you have to introduce a coin to see it clearly.
ANA ISABEL LUCAS VIOLERO 4º ESO B