HYPERALLERGIC
By Thomas Micchelli
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| Caravaggio, “The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist” (1607–1608), oil on canvas, 361 x 520 cm, Saint John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta (image credit: Caravaggio [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons) |
VALETTA, Malta — A street fight broke out in the Roman night of May 28th, 1606; weapons were drawn, and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s sword sliced through the thigh of a young pimp named Ranuccio Tomassoni, severing the artery. Caravaggio ran off with a grievous head wound, and Tomassoni bled to death. There is good reason to conclude that Caravaggio was a special brand of sociopath, or else a merciless truth teller with one foot in the dark side, but his madness did not flourish in a vacuum. Caravaggio’s eye was as cold as the world he lived in, where fate is indifferent to virtue and innocence is routinely sacrificed on the altar of greed, lust, and raw power. It’s what makes him our own. [
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| Caravaggio, “The Burial of Saint Lucy” (1608), oil on canvas, 408 x 300 cm, Church of Santa Lucia alla Badia, Siracusa, Sicily (image credit: Caravaggio [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)
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