PhD Program in Historical studies
Caravaggio and Ribera in the viceroyalty of Naples
From the early years of the seventeenth century Naples took on a role of primary importance in Early Modern Europe as a meeting point of different cultures, as well as a centre for the dissemination of ideas and an artistic hotbed of experimentation. The Seven Acts of Mercy (image 1), painted by Caravaggio between 1606 and 1607, was executed for the the congregation of the Pio Monte della Misericordia (now via dei tribunali). The figures allude to the seven corporal works of mercy and are drawn “from the suffocating reality of every day life of Spanish Naples’s dark alleys” (Nicola Spinosa). The powerful effects of light and shadow, combined with the search for Naturalism, in objects and in expressions, characterized the work of the Lombard and influenced Neapolitans active in the early years of the new century. Among these were Batistello Caracciolo, the author, for the same Pio Monte della Misericordia of the Liberation of Saint Peter (1615), which, evincing a disciplined and cultured Naturalism, achieves an outcomes of great naturalness. In the Museum of Capodimonte, the Flagelation, made by Caravaggio in 1607, was originally in the church of San Domenico Maggiore (Saint Dominic Major). It is a work that, on account of its strong contrasts of light and shade and stark realism, must have impressed local painters and affirmed Early Modern seventeenth-century painting. Probably in the same year the artist executed the pathetic and cruel Crucifixion of Saint Andrew (now in the Cleveland Museum of Art) for Don Juan Pimentel y Herrera, his only Spanish client, which was soon transferred to the palace of the gentleman in Valladolid. In Naples Caravaggio also worked on the Denial of Peter (formerly in the Certosa of San Martino, now in New York, Metropolitan Museum) and The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, considered his last painting (today in Palazzo Zevallos). They are pivotal texts that guide the tendencies of the later painting, giving it force and consistency of style.
Capodimonte houses paintings by Spanish artists who were just as crucial to the success of the local school. The first is Jusepe de Ribera, called lo Spagnoletto, “the little Spaniard,” who spent most of his life in Naples, enjoying the protection of the viceroy. Among these, the Duke of Osuna and the Count of Monterrey, gave him the post of official painter which allowed him to attend court. In the Drunken Silenus of Capodimonte (image 2), a masterpiece of the early maturity of the artist (1626), the characters show a direct approach to the real, almost to the point of the grotesque. The scene is occupied by a fat Silenus, surrounded by figures with strong expressions, obtained with a pasty and dense brush. Despite the stark realism, the theme of the bacchanal hearkens back to Ancient and Classical culture. Ribera worked alongside another Spaniard, the Maestro dell’Annuncio ai pastori (Master of the Annunciation to the Shepherds), who takes his name from the masterpiece stored at Capodimonte (Fig. 7). Experimenting with a “radical” naturalism, he inserted shepherds and farmers in his paintings who are sunburned and tired from hard work. With a few simple gestures this poor and suffering humanity can convey deep and authentic emotions. His painting of great integrity and social commitment, influenced the young masters of the next generation, like Francesco Fracanzano and Francesco Guarino.