The Caravaggesque Movement was inspired by Caravaggio (1573-1610). Probably the most revolutionary artist of his time, Caravaggio abandoned the rules that had guided a century of artists before him who had idealized the human and religious experience. He was born Michelangelo Merisi on Sept. 28, 1573, in Caravaggio, Italy. As an adult he would become known by the name of his birthplace. Orphaned at age 11, he was apprenticed to the painter Simone Peterzano of Milan for four years. At some time between 1588 and 1592, Caravaggio went to Rome and worked as an assistant to painters of lesser skill. About 1595 he began to sell his paintings through a dealer. The dealer brought Caravaggio to the attention of Cardinal Francesco del Monte. Despite criticism and outcry for his style of realistic and dramatic painting, his reputation increased. He had many encounters with the law during his stay in Rome. He was imprisoned for several assaults and for killing an opponent after a disputed score in a game of court tennis. Caravaggio fled the city and reached Naples early in 1607, and painted there for a time, awaiting a pardon by the pope. Early in 1608 Caravaggio went to Malta and was received as a celebrated artist by the Grand Master of the Knights of St Johns. His paintings of this period were among the greatest of his career. After receiving a pardon from the pope, he was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned for two days. A boat that was to take him to Rome left without him, taking his belongings. Misfortune, exhaustion, and illness overtook him and he collapsed on the beach and died a few days later on July 18, 1610.
Follower of Bartolomeo Manfredi (1582-1622)
One of the most important Caravaggio follower was Bartolomeo Manfredi (1582-1622). Born in Mantua and active mainly in Rome, he specialized in low-life scenes of taverns, soldiers in guardrooms, cardplaying, etc, and like Caravaggio, he was responsible for popularizing this kind of work, particularly with painters from France and the Netherlands who came to Italy. In spite of his contemporary reputation, no works survive that are signed or documented as his, and several of the forty or so paintings now given to him were formerly attributed to Caravaggio.
Two men and a Lady playing Cards at a Table
PROVENANCE:
Galerie Fischer, Luzern 12 and 13 June 1963, Lot 69 as Caravaggio; acquired by the Chevalier Family from the Rhineland.
LITERATURE: A. Moir The Italian Followers of Caravaggio, Cambridge, Mass, 1967; B. Nicholson Bartolomeo Manfredi in Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Art, London 1967 and The International Caravaggesque Movement, Oxford 1979; J. von Sandrart Academie der Bau-, Bild und Mahlerei Kuenste von 1675, Nuernberg, 1675.
The Chevaliers, a prominent family of diplomats employed in the Foreign Service, were art historians and important collectors of art. Several periods of residence abroad and in Europe, Turkey and Africa led to an expansion in their notable Baroque collection, to include antique Islamic and Byzantine art.
