Caravaggio in Rome. A Baroque life.
Project location: FRANCE
Project start date: October 2019 -
Project end date: January 2019
Project number: 2018-031
Beneficiary: Università degli Studi di Ferrara - Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici
Remarkable is the attention of the studies upon the date of his arrival in Rome, recently placed, after many researches in the Rome State Archives, between 1595-1596; moreover, important relevance has the environment within the Pope's city, which is in this period very diverse and offers new reflections on the literary component of some of Caravaggio's creations; last, new focus is pointed on his relations with the market and with the workshops of the painters active in Rome during the same period.
At the same time, the events of his intense and disordered life, the bloody episodes that characterized his staying in Rome, but also, probability, the Milan period after the Rome residency have a great resonance, even among the public. Another aspect that tends to escape from the scientific discussion and then arriving often to the pages of newspapers and opening to scholars discussions on the web is the attribution of supposed new artworks that, with a great fuss, have been referred to the artist.
The exhibition "Caravage à Rome. Amis et ennemis", at the Musée Jacquemart - André has kept the attention alive on all these aspects by proposing to the scholarly reflection a thematic path within the Roman works and giving the chance to reflect also on the stylistic outcomes of the painter especially around 1605-1606.
Aware of having fed the curiosity of the public and the discussions among specialists, the editors of the catalog have decided to organize a study day where will be presented the studies in progress and the recent discoveries about the Roman works of Caravaggio, also providing a framework for subsequent events characterizing the artist's life and for the success of his works beyond the Baroque Rome.
Following the aim of an international exchange of culture and knowledge proper of our University Department, the main objective of the project has been to organize an international day of study about the Baroque context in Rome when Caravaggio attracted also the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, one of the leading connoisseurs in Rome.
The main output of the project, which received a grant from the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation, was a one-day seminar that involved cultural Institution, association and enterprises in France and Italy. The institution were: the Italian Institute of Culture in Paris (IIC) with the referent person of the director Fabio Gambaro, the Association des historiens de l’art italien (AHAI), the Musée Jacquemart - André and Culturespace, a leading private cultural operator in the management of monuments, museums, art centres, temporary exhibitions, and immersive digital exhibitions.
