Thursday, November 20, 2014

The Crucifixion of Saint Peter, Caravaggio.



The Crucifixion of Saint Peter was made by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. It was painted in 1601 in Rome. Its commissioner was Tiberio Cerasi. He commissioned this painting and another one (The Conversion of Saint Paul in the road of Damascus) in 1600, and they were made in 1601. Here you have a portrait of Caravaggio:


In this painting, Caravaggio used the oil on canvas. It is 230 centimetres high and 175 centimetres wide. It represents the crucifixion of Saint Peter, who wanted to be crucified in the opposite way in order not to imitate to Christ. In the painting are other three men, they are Roman henchmen, whose faces are hidden. They are trying to raise the cross, although, according to Roberto Longhi's opinion, they seem to be workers and not to be executioners. This conclusion is due to their positions and their way of raising the cross and their clothes. The painting doesn’t show a bloody crucifixion, but the pain is present. It is a diagonal zig-zag that shows the martyrdom. Caravaggio used colors that contrasted light and shadow.


The subject is religious. The Crucifixion of Saint Peter is a Baroque painting, for this reason Caravaggio used oil on canvas. The chiaroscuro was used too, in which he created contrasts of lights and shadows. Predominance of color over drawing was present. For example, Caravaggio used contrast in the background because he painted it all with/in the same color. And he used also shadows, such as in the legs of the man in the yellow trousers. There are also foreshortened figures. As we can see, in the painting, the man who is on the left side is shortened because we can’t see his complete arm, and the cross too because we can’t see the whole cross. Caravaggio, as the rest of Baroque artists, used a complex composition for her work.
Here you have some photos that explain the characteristics of Baroque related to this painting:



Here you can see better the
contrast between the
background and the people.








We can see in this picture the
shadow of the man's leg.






Here we can see that the
man’s arm is shortened.











With these pictures we can explain what Roberto Longhi 
said. They seem to be workers due to their clothes, in this 
case, this man hasn’t shoes.




In these two next pictures you can see the complex composition they used during the Baroque.













A curious piece of information is that when Velázquez arrived to Rome, he was very influenced by Caravaggio’s paintings. Caravaggio's style had a great influence on Baroque painting.

Sources of the information:
And some other information, I have found in other sites web but very few more. And the influence of Caravaggio’s paintings were explained by Paqui in a lesson.
Sources of the pictures:
The picture of the leg men’s shadow has been edited by me.
http://historiadelartecomentarios.blogspot.com.es/2008_05_01_archive.html

I have used wordreference too to look for the meaning of words I didn’t know. http://www.wordreference.com/

1 comment:

Paqui Pérez Fons said...

Hello again,

These are my corrections. Erase the words I've written in brackets and pay attention to this:

- man (singular)/ men (plural)
- this (singluar)/ these (pluraL)


- In this painting, Caravaggio used (the) oil on canvas. It is 230 centimetres high and 175 centimetres wide. It represents the crucifixion of Saint Peter, who wanted to be crucified in the opposite way in order not to imitate to Christ. In the painting are other three men, they are Roman henchmen, whose faces are hidden. They are trying to raise the cross, although, according to Roberto Longhi’s opinion,


- The painting doesn’t show a bloody crucifixion, but the pain is present. It is a diagonal(s’) zig-zag that shows the martyrdom. Caravaggio used colors that contrasted (of) light and shadow.

- Caravaggio used oil on canvas. The chiaroscuro was used too, in which he created contrasts of lights and shadows. Predominance of color over drawing was present(ed). For example, Caravaggio used contrast in the background because he painted it all (of) with/in the same color. And he used also shadows, such as in the legs of the man in the yellow trousers. There are also foreshortened figures. As we can see, in the painting, the man who is on the left side

- We can see in this picture the shadow of the man’s leg.


- With these s pictures we can explain what Roberto Longhi
said. They seem to be workers due to their clothes, in this
case, this man hasn’t shoes.
In these two next pictures you can see the complex composition they used during the Baroque.

A curious piece of information is that when Velázquez arrived to Rome, he was very influenced by Caravaggio’s paintings. Caravaggio’s style had a great influence on Baroque painting.

This project is better. Your mark is 9. Bye!