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The Leaves of Caravaggio

Paulo Martins Oliveira
____________________________________________________________________ Grace is even more beautiful than beauty
Jean de la Fontaine

Creativity is intelligence having fun

Albert Einstein

By mastering the use of ambiguities, various artists of the 15th, 16th, 17th centuries encoded different types of messages throughout multilayered paintings. Even in the apparently simplest works they designed compromise solutions in order to merge surreptitious narratives and metaphors. It is the case of Caravaggios Basket of fruit, in which the two leaves pending on the right actually form the head and the torso of a poor man, who is looking up to the left [A].

The man is looking at a seagull that stole his fish [B].

To his disappointment, the bird drops something other than the fish [C]. Thus, in his peculiar way, Caravaggio allegorizes about the continuous injustices and hardships of life, especially of those who are already unfortunate. In fact, that artist systematically introduced numerous unsuspected sub-narratives in his paintings. For instance, again using leaves, Caravaggio elaborated a curious combination in his Bacchus.

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1: On the lower left there is a lush leaf suggesting a humanized face, looking eagerly at the bottle of wine. 2: The result is presented on the upper right, where the leaf is red and completely drunk. In summary, the shown examples demonstrate the wit and versatility of this kind of challenging art, of which Caravaggio was one of the greatest and most subtle interpreters. 2013
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Related writings Original research (2009-13, independent projects: Escriptos; Akenpapers/Akenvis) Papers (until July 2013) Bosch and the hidden devils of the Garden Bosch, the surdo canis Botticellis Primavera: the dual wind Deconstructing Caravaggio and Velzquez Depicting Michelangelo Leonardos Last Supper and the three layers Rembrandt and the art of compromise Reviewing Konrad Witz an ingenious artist of the 15th century The (diabolic) oak of the Rovere Popes The Adoration of the Magi (Botticelli) The Deceptive Angels The Delights of Coudenberg The Devilish Chapel of Michelangelo The Dutch Company The dynamic concept of Sandro Botticelli The L(eonardo) and the S(alai) The Leaves of Caravaggio The nationalist and rational Jheronimus Bosch The Passion of Caravaggio The Sistine Ceiling and the Holy Spirit The Sistine Chapel and the new Jeremiah The Sistine Chapel of Michelangelo: the Law and the Judge A Bno de Rafael (P) A ltima Ceia de Leonardo e as trs camadas (P) As faces de Engelbert (P) O conceito dinmico de Caravaggio (P) O engenho de Matthias Grnewald (P) O falso paraso de Tiziano (P) O mecanismo dos Painis de Avis (P) O nacionalista e racional Jheronimus Bosch (P) Os Demnios de Nuno Gonalves (P) Porqu Jheronimus Bosch? (P) Books Leonardo x Michelangelo The Devils of Art Jheronimus Bosch o relojoeiro dos smbolos Os Demnios de Arte Separata 1 Os Painis de Avis A Janela de Tomar Forthcoming main publications on the symbolic engineering of artworks (15th-17th centuries): Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Titian, Bruegel, Caravaggio, Velzquez, Vermeer (2013-15).