Artist in Exile: The Last Caravaggio
12:30 - 1.:30pm, 22 March. Dr Matthew Whyte
As part of the Friends Spring Lecture Series 2024
No booking required but places are limited so arrive early to avoid disappointment.
Friends €5 | General Public €8 | Students go free with a valid I.D.
Baroque sensation Caravaggio is never far from the imagination of art lovers. Furthermore, we need only think of Andrew Graham-Dixon’s famous biography Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane (2010) to remember the jarring contradictions present in his life – the creator of a Counter-Reformation painting style of stirring spirituality, and simultaneously the frequently-imprisoned brawler forced to flee Rome for murder. The last years of Caravaggio’s short life were spent in exile. From Naples, to Malta, to Sicily, and back to Naples, Caravaggio evaded authorities and completed his last paintings. Sometimes pious, often shockingly violent, and at times self-deprecating, these late paintings offer a fascinating image of the artist in exile. This talk parallels with the upcoming exhibition in London’s National Gallery entitled ‘The Last Caravaggio’ (18 April-21 July 2024), offering an introduction to the ways in which we can think about the works of an artist in crisis.
