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Pitiful Relics: Caravaggio's <Em>Martyrdom of St. Matthew</Em>

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Pitiful Relics: Caravaggio's <Em>Martyrdom of St. Matthew</Em> Pitiful Relics: Caravaggio's Martyrdom of St. Matthew Author(s): Todd P. Olson Source: Representations , Vol. 77, No. 1 (Winter 2002), pp. 107-142 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rep.2002.77.1.107 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Representations This content downloaded from 85.72.204.160 on Fri, 01 May 2020 12:49:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms TODDP.OLSON PitifulRelics: Caravaggio’s Martyrdom ofSt. Matthew Beneaththesurfaceof Caravaggio’s Martyrdomof St. Matthew (plate1) isanotherpai nting( gs. 1 and2). X-rays reveal an abandonedpreliminar y versionof the scene ofviolent martyrdom.The underlyingprovisional execution- ersthreaten toobstruct the saint’s visibility.Amuscularthug dominates the fore- ground.His helmeted head,broad back, buttocks, and tightly syncopatedlegs step awayi ntounspeci ed depth. T ohisleft, another soldier ,inprole, lunges violently towardthe same object.He stepsfor ward,his naked torsopivots on its axis, exposinghis chest toour view .He cocksback his arm and thrusts the swordin tandemw ithhis other extended hand,which balances and directs the attack.Be- tween the two gures,in depth,a thirdman elevates hishand, poised to plunge downwardstoward the shareddestination. The doublingand tripling of the gesture providesnarrative focus and through its replicationconjures a conspiratorialmove- ment.The manin prole onthe left isaskewed doubleof the central gure,com- pensatingfor the viewer’s limitedcomprehension of apersonseen frombehind. Multipleassassins, through repetitive action and variation of pose,produce a sense ofanatomicalcompletion. One thinks ofthe executionersin Antoniodel Pollaiu- olo’s Martyrdomof St. Sebastian ,wherethe multiplicationof partialaspects compen- sates forthe constraintsof an impliedsingle pointof view (g .3).The mechanical repetitionof socially and ontologically ‘ ‘incomplete’’ guresin bothpaintings also recalls depictionsof the massacreof the innocents,where soldiers i nthe actof visceral penetrationdisplay the artists’anatomical virtuosity .Multipleaggressors underscorethe vulnerability ofthe sacricial body and its imminentdisintegration. InCaravaggio’s initialpainting, Matthew stood trapped in the intersticesof that screen ofbrutality,holdingout his fragile hand in the pathof the plungingsword. ToMatthew’s left stooda nudeephebic acolyte or angel feebly repeatingthe saint’s pathetic,defensive gesture.Matthew was tooeasily upstagedby this youthful gure. Moreover,the saintwas obscured by the clash ofarmsto the pointof beingmade inconsequential. Caravaggio’s initialpainting of the desecrationof the saintly bodyparticipated inoneof the contradictionsof westernart beginning in the early modernera: the Representations 77 · Winter 2002 q theregentsoftheuniversityofcalifornia is sn 0734-6018 pages107– 142. Allrights reserved.Send requests for permission toreprint toRights andPermissions, University of CaliforniaPress, Journals Division, 2000 CenterSt., Ste.303, Berkeley,CA94704-1223. 107 This content downloaded from 85.72.204.160 on Fri, 01 May 2020 12:49:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms figure 1.Caravaggio, X-ray photographof underpainting for TheMartyrdom ofSt. Matthew ,c.1599–1600.Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi,Rome. Photo: Instituto centrale peril restauro,Rome. bodiesof untouchables became central to the depictionof heroic narrative. W aiting onthe wingsof altarpiecesor in sacredconversations, martyrs were traditionally arrestedin theirmovement. They held the instrumentsof victimizationagainst a gilt ground,but their assassins were not rendered visible. Eyes inthe handor breasts ona plate,sword wedged or stonesembedded in the skull served asindicesof pene- tration,torture, and dis guration ( g .4).Narrative and, by extension, mutability andmortality were held incheck. When hagiographyentered narrative, as itdid inPollaiuolo’s painting,the impassivemartyr was subjectedto the gyratingpattern ofexecutioners. The displayof anactive,virtuous, and noble body ,the ostensible organizingprinciple of narrative pai nting( historia)asdened bythe fteenth- centuryart theorist Leon Battista A lbertiand later adumbrated by others, was 108 Representations This content downloaded from 85.72.204.160 on Fri, 01 May 2020 12:49:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms figure 2.Caravaggio, digitally enhanced X-ray photographof underpainting for Martyrdomof St. Matthew .Photo:Instituto centrale peri lrestauro, Rome.Design: Brian Ewing . paradoxicallyperformed by those brutes that carry out orders, or the imagined interchangeableunits of amercenaryarmy . 1 The humanisttradition of ennobling exemplarity coexisteduneasily withthe demandsof Christianmartyrolog y.Asthe CatholicChurch promoted the cultof the saintsand promulgated their martyr- dom,narrative pai ntingwas obligatedto put the passivevictim at the centerof the composition.Rather than beingactive, the martyrwas acted upon and violated bysubaltern gures.Violent action performed by a bodyor series ofbodieswith accidentalfeatures and typological particularity introduced a variety ofe Vects that dispersedattention. The pictorialinterest provided by the ignoble gurethereby challenged the centralityof the noblebody .By reversingthe relative termsof domi- nance andsubordi nation,by turnin gthe profaneagai nst the sacred,the active Pitiful Relics:Caravaggio’ s Martyrdom of St.Matthew 109 This content downloaded from 85.72.204.160 on Fri, 01 May 2020 12:49:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms figure 3.A ntoniodel Pollaiuolo, TheMartyrdomof St. Sebastian , 1475. q NationalGallery ,London. 110 Representations This content downloaded from 85.72.204.160 on Fri, 01 May 2020 12:49:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms figure 4.Master of the Louvre Annunciation,‘ ‘SaintStephen and a Blessed Carmelite,’’ rightwing of the LouvreAnnuciatio n , Muse´eduLouvre,Paris. q Re´uniondes muse ´es nationaux/Art Resource,New York. againstthe passive,the violent martyrdomseemed tocontradictA lberti’s theoryof historia.Heroand victim were made equivalent. The underlyingpainting rejected by Caravaggio betrays the di Yculty of the pictorialproblem he faced.Indeed, the ambitiouscomposition was in itselfa chal- lenge tohis limited skills andexperience asapainter.Caravaggiohad been accus- tomedto painting modestly scaled, ready-made pictures for private consumption duringhis rstyears inRome:androg ynousboys being bitten by lizards, playing the lyre, oro Vering fruit( g .5).The pro Veredmerchandise, oi lpainton stretched canvas,thematized its own production of mimeticdeception, seduction, and un- consummateddesire. In these pictures,the painterhad astutely combinedtwo genres overwhich he hadcommand: the still life andthe half-length gure.Cara- vaggio’s early small picturesof multiple gures,such as the Cardsharps, depicted only afew gurestruncated by a table( g .6).A simplecomposition and a limited displayof anatomy provided the occasionfor selective andconcentrated attention tothe representationof textures and the rudimentarynarrative of a condence game,in thiscase, the victimcaught in the conspiratorialdeception of cardsharp Pitiful Relics:Caravaggio’ s Martyrdom of St.Matthew 111 This content downloaded from 85.72.204.160 on Fri, 01 May 2020 12:49:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms figure 5.Caravaggio, Boywith Basket ofFruit ,c.1595. Vi lla Borghese,Rome. q Alinari/ArtResource,New York. andaccomplice. When Caravaggiowas given the commissionfor a chapeli n France’s nationalchurch in Rome,he easily adaptedthe pictorialstructure of his small paintingsto the demandsof the Calling ofSt. Matthew onthe lateralwall of the chapel:Christ enters atavern scene; half-length gurescount money ata table, andMatthew is singledout from the motley crewfor sainthood ( g .7).However , the representationof violent martyrdomon the facingwall posedother challenges. Caravaggio’s initialcomposition for the paintingof Matthew’s martyrdomhad failed to oVersemantic clarity and triumphal resolution ( gs. 1 and2). The rude ganghad created confusion at the center,upstagingand obscuring the plot.Recog- nizingMatthew had required a greatdeal ofe Vort.Caravaggio seems tohave ap- prehendedthe early version’s failurein hisradically modi ed composition. In the nal painting,Matthew has receiveda swordthrust from behind ( plate1). T urning awayfrom the altar,he spiralsdownward. His assai lant liftshim atthe wristfor the nal assault.The woundedsaint is fully cognizantof hisimminent death. Martyr- domhas becomea couplet:assai lant andvicti m,executioner and condemned. At the center,the violence isseemingly claried into a simpleopposition: Matthew gives intosuperior force and brutality .Whereas inthe initialcomposition Mat- thew’s bodywas suggestedby afacepeering out through the screen ofexecutioners, 112 Representations This content downloaded from 85.72.204.160 on Fri, 01 May 2020 12:49:55 UTC All
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