verbascum, or mullein, bushes are both distinguishing features of the painter’s work (see Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Saint John the Baptist, and the Entombment). It is not surprising that Caravaggio had a penchant for them since they reminded him of cabbage or lettuce.
His famous Bacchus, far from being a conventional representation of a pagan god, is an androgynous and rounded figure with a radiant complexion who, leaning on a day bed, holds out a cup of wine towards the viewer and invites him to enjoy the terrestrial pleasures.
Boy with a Basket of Fruit (detail)
c. 1593
Oil on canvas, 70 × 67 cm
Museo e Galleria Borghese, Rome
The mastery of still life he shows in painting the transparency of the glass, the reflections on the carafe, the basket of fruit, the fig-leaves in his hair and the draped movements of the toga; and the mastery of the naked figure illustrated in the god’s luminous complexion, in the redness of his cheeks and hand, the sensuality of his gestures and his lascivious attitude, all praising Hedonism; reach their climax here and demonstrate why this painting is one of Caravaggio’s most famous works.
Sick Bacchus or Satyr with Grapes
c. 1593
Oil on canvas, 67 × 53 cm
Museo e Galleria Borghese, Rome
It seduces any viewer contemplating it, so that under the charm of the natural and bewitching sensuality of the pagan god, the viewer is willing to follow him and be swept away by joyful bacchanals.
There is also another pleasure that features significantly in Caravaggio’s works: gaming. Games and gambling played a very specific part in his paintings. He created several paintings on this theme in which one can see groups of players with cards, chess, or dice.
Sick Bacchus or Satyr with Grapes (detail)
c. 1593
Oil on canvas, 67 × 53 cm
Museo e Galleria Borghese, Rome
One of the first altar-pieces he made, The Calling of Saint Matthew, caused a stir in Rome because the five characters were seated at a gaming table. One of them, seeing Jesus entering the room to announce his mission to Matthew, seems to take back the coins he has just won as if he had seen a thief coming in. In the Denial of Saint Peter, three soldiers deeply absorbed in a dice game divert the attention of the viewer from the eloquent face of the old man (the principal figure in the painting), which is very characteristic of Caravaggio’s work.
The Cardsharps
c. 1595
Oil on canvas, 94.2 × 130.9 cm
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
To this series is added the famous painting The Cardsharps. The theories developed by the painter on realism are not sufficient to explain why so many gamblers frequented his studio and only his marked taste for gaming can explain the presence of these gamblers in his work. Caravaggio had a passion for gambling and often practised it like so many of his models. The heroes of spades and clubs seemed to him worthy of the kingdom of beauty, not because of his revolutionary ideas about art, but more because of his fascination with gamblers.
The Cardsharps (detail)
c. 1595
Oil on canvas, 94.2 × 130.9 cm
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
Respect for the rules in gaming was of prime importance for the painter. Caravaggio thought that, morally, cheating was the most reprehensible wrongdoing of all. Stabbing an enemy in the back, insulting someone, attacking weak and defenceless women, or stealing a fellow’s purse were venial faults according to him. But cheating at cards or betraying the solidarity with a companion in a bar was the height of cowardice and abjection.
The Lute Player
c. 1595
Oil on canvas, 94 × 119 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
In his work, he treated fraudulent players with contempt, giving them unpleasant expressions from which one can read the severe and reproving judgement of the painter. The disagreeable faces of the cheat and his accomplice are therefore meant to inspire fear and distaste. On the other hand, the faces of honest players are like those of angels. Caravaggio himself may have incurred losses in gaming and among all the forms of revenge he used (he was not the kind to spare the offender), only the noblest and least terrible has remained.
The Lute Player (detail)
c. 1595
Oil on canvas, 94 × 119 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Likewise, he surely appreciated literature, otherwise how could he have written poems and been friends with Cavalier Marino, even if he had a certain aversion for Classicism and distrusted the Muses and the Parnassus? But music was certainly the art form he most appreciated after painting and it inspired him, as soon as he arrived at the home of the great music lover Cardinal Del Monte, to produce several works on the theme of music.
The Musicians
c. 1595
Oil on canvas, 92 × 118.5 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The paintings he created on this subject convey a sense of harmony, joy, pleasure, and serenity, sometimes melancholy, and combine the figures of young musicians placed in a realistic setting where the evocations of the ephemeral pleasures of terrestrial life abound (depicted with flowers, fruit, vegetables, and wine) and in which resonate the echoes of the pleasure provided by music (The Musicians). His work must be placed in its historical and cultural context to understand why Caravaggio asked young men to model for paintings with music for their theme.
The Musicians (detail)
c. 1595
Oil on canvas, 92 × 118.5 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Indeed, in the Baroque era, women were excluded from public performances. In church, priests asked young musicians, often trained by them, and young castrati to perform the vocal parts in their repertoires, like the famous castrati of the Sistine Chapel. The privileged place that music held in Caravaggio’s life and in his work also deserves to be highlighted. Many of the singers and musicians give life to his paintings, even when they are not the main subjects.
The Fortune Teller (first version)
c. 1595
Oil on canvas, 115 × 150 cm
Musei Capitolini, Rome
Paintings such as the Guitar Player, The Lute Player, the ecstatic Saint Cecilia, The Musicians, and Amor Victorious, in which orchestral