Santa Maria del Popolo : Cerasi Chapel (Rome, Italy) : Side view of the altar and altarpiece

Creator:

Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da, 1571-1610
Carracci, Annibale, 1560-1609

Published/Created:

Rome, Lazio, Italy
ca. 1600-1601

Date Depicted:

10/18/1998
1500 AD - 1699 AD

Materials:

fresco
marble
oil on canvas
stucco

Notes:

The radical transformation of Annibale's style since he came to Rome could not be appreciated fully until his altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin for the Cerasi Chapel in S Maria del Popolo was unveiled early in 1601 (in situ). Despite the panel's relatively modest size, it has an overpowering impact. Supported by angels, the Virgin erupts from the empty tomb around which the apostles crowd, compressed together in the immediate foreground. Forms are simplified, and the almost geometrical solidity of the figures is intensified by the bright colours and sharp focus typical of panel painting. A staccato tempo of abrupt gestures, sudden twists and turns and unexpected juxtapositions forcefully communicates the picture's dramatic content, replacing the gentler, lyrical rhythms of the Pietà or the Farnese ceiling. The fact that the Assumption was to be flanked by two paintings by Caravaggio no doubt contributed to its extremist position. Faced with the challenge posed by Caravaggio's anti-idealist style, Annibale took the opposite course. His altarpiece polemicizes Caravaggio's non-selective naturalism, countering it with a conception of religious painting in which sacred figures of idealized perfection are depicted with the greatest possible verisimilitude; a conception that, moreover, had the full authority of tradition behind it.

Variant Titles:

Cappella Cerasi

Topics:

Painting -- Italy -- 17th century -- (YVRC)

Period/Style:

Baroque

Culture:

Italian

Accession Number:

1A2-I-R-SP-9-A2

Genre:

churches (AAT)
paintings (AAT)

Format:

Image

Content Type:

Paintings & Drawings
Sculptures, Models, & Architecture

Rights:

Copyright Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc
The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.

Access Restrictions:

Yale Community Only

Digital:

New Testament; saints; Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint; Peter, the Apostle, Saint intarsia; oil painting (technique) visual works; paintings (visual works)

Source Creator:

Gilchrist, Scott

Source Title:

Archivision Module One

Source Created:

2878 Chamonix, Montreal QC
Archivision, Inc.
10/18/1998

Source Note:

Purchase, Visual Resources Collection, May, 2011; photographer Scott Gilchrist

Yale Collection:

Visual Resources Collection

Digital Collection:

Visual Resources Collection

Local Record Number:

4152

OID:

10112886

PID:

digcoll:1824184