Arts: Artists
One of the masterpieces in the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum is for sure the Deposition of Caravaggio, (Michelangelo Merisi), made in 1604.
Originally in Santa Maria in Vallicella, one of the most beautiful churches of Rome (with works of Giudo Reni, Barocci, Cav. D’Arpino, Maratta, Rubens, Pietro da Cortona and many more). This church would be much more frequented by admires if this work would return in situ. On the order of Napoleon Bonaparte it was removed by Valadier and shipped to France on the 20th of March 1797. Luckily, after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, thanks to the enormous efforts of Canova, it returned to Italy … hélas, not to the second chapel on the right in the Chiesa Nuova (the popular name of the church Santa Maria in Vallicella), but to the Vatican, where you still can admire it. Luckily, the fathers of the Oratory of the Chiesa Nuova, who didn’t want to interrupt the cyclus of the theme of the church, spread over the various chapels, asked, just before it left Rome, the Tyrolese painter Michele Koeck, to make a excellent copy of it.
Napoleon Bonaparte was for sure one of the biggest thieves of Italian art. It is said that when he was in Rome to visit his mother, who lived at the Piazza Venezia, he was the guest of the family Massimo alla Colonna. (Their palace is today still at the Corso Vittorio Emmanuelle II). Daily, an object disappeared from his writing desk, until finally, he approached the prince saying: “Credo, tutti gli italiani sono ladri” ; (I believe, all Italians are thieves!); on which the prince replied: “Tutti no , ma Buona-parte si!” (Not all of them, but a great deal, yes!)
The photo that I choose of the Deposition, I would say, is maybe not the best, because overlighted, but it helps to see every detail also especially those who are in the shadow. This is probably one of the most commented paintings that history described, but often, only from the academic point of view. One of the best comments, I found in Daniel J. O’Connor. (1) He departs from the Bible. And personal, I think, that’s a must for painting made during the catholic reformation in the second halve of the sixteenth century. And especially in the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, where the committent was allowed to pay, but not exactly deciding what the work would be.
Location of the Chapel Vittrici within the Chiesa Nuova
The whole church is dedicated to Mary, mother of God, and in every single painting, she will play an extremely important role. On your left are the paintings of Peter Pauwel Rubens, who as a young chap got the commission of painting the main altar. His first work got refused, and they didn’t want to pay is. Because in the original (below), everybody asked: Who are the six surrounding Mary? Nobody asked what was behind the oval, painted by Rubens, the miracolous fresco of Mary and Child. Rubens took the original home an hanged it in the chapel were his mother was buried in 1608, were it was token away by Napoleon (once again), and is now hanging in the museum of Grenoble.
Theological approach of the “Deposition”
And Mary is holding them all together! She continued to carry the Cross after Jesus death. During Jesus agony in the garden, during the process and on the cross, all the apostles left him, with exception of st. John. And it was Mary who kept the inner circle of the church together until Pentecost, the descend of the Holy Spirit when all were gathered together, and again, Mary was amongst them.
Mary
Here, Mary is standing in the position of the cross. In the vault of the chapel, two angels are bringing the Cross to heaven. (Caravaggio will use the concept in other works: look at the conversion of st. Paul in the church “Santa Maria del Popolo”: Saul/Paul is falling from the horse, in the position of the cross. Once he’s converted he’s becoming a follower of Christ and is ready to take up his cross). And as it is obvious a painting for the Holy Week, we must keep in mind that during that week the same psalm 118 (119), 22 is used every day: “The stone rejected by the builders, is becoming the cornerstone ...” And now we see that stone in the painting. It is the stone that Jesus point out with his finger, and on which Mary is standing in the middle in the position of the Cross. The Stone is becoming the living stone on which the faithful are built up into a spiritual house under the guidance of Mary. The altar beneath the painting of Caravaggio differs from the other altars in the church Santa Maria in Vallicella: Compared to the other altar-stones in the church, this one is a solid, one single piece! It’s a tomb-stone.
The stone metaphor applied to Israel in the psalm 118,22 is applied to Jesus in Acts 4:1. Israel had been humiliated and rejected as of no importance by the world-powers, but had been restored to prosperity by God’s graciousness. So too, Jesus, humiliated and rejected by the religious leaders of his time, was raised up by God in the glory of the resurrection. (1) This thought is explicitly proposed in Acts 4, 8-11 which purports to be an address of Peter (Petrus = Stone) to the religious rulers and elders in Jerusalem shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus, on the occasion of the healing of a crippled man by Peter.
“Rulers of the people and elders ... Be it known to you all ... that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands before you in good health. This (viz. Jesus) is the stone rejected by you the builders, but which has become the head of the corner.”
The Holy Shroud
in his homily on October 4th at Assisi, Pope Francis clearly and beautifully reflected on the crucified Lord and his gift of divine life for us and to us:
The cross does not speak to us about defeat and failure; paradoxically, it speaks to us about a death which is life, a death which gives life, for it speaks to us of love, the love of God incarnate, a love which does not die, but triumphs over evil and death. When we let the crucified Jesus gaze upon us, we are re-created, we become “a new creation”. Everything else starts with this: the experience of transforming grace, the experience of being loved for no merits of our own, in spite of our being sinners. That is why Saint Francis could say with Saint Paul: “Far be it for me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14).
The assemble of the faithful
Maria Cleofa
Mary hold the young Church together until Pentecost. And who make part of it? Mary Cleofa, the faithful believer in the Lord, in the position of the Orante, as described above, announcing already the resurrection: the next line in Psalm 118:24 about the rejected stone is: “This is the day that the Lord has made; Let’s us rejoice and be happy!” This verse will be recited every day during the Octave of Easter. This is resurrection-day.
St. John
And we have also st.John, the only apostle who didn’t leave Jesus when he was on the cross. But look at the colors that Caravaggio used for him: green and red. We know already that white is the spiritual color for faith; so is green for hope and red for charity. The green expresses here the resurrection: “We don’t give up hope, even when death is present ...”. There will be new life after death. And wasn’t st.John not the most beloved disciple of Jesus? In the Cenacle of Leonardo da Vinci he is sitting on the left of Jesus. He loved Him (the red color) until death and beyond.
Mary Magdalen
The beautiful girl in the middle who is crying is Mary Magdalen. But isn’t she always crying? In the gospel of Luke (3), she is the sinful woman who bathed the feet of Jesus with her tears, and wiped them with her hair on the moment of her conversion. But as a convert she is welcome in the group hold together by Mary. Or ... is she also pre-announcing the future? Wasn’t she the one on the day of Easter who was walking in the garden and found the open tomb, crying that they took Him away? (4) But Mary Magdalen will be also be to be the first to see the risen Christ. (5)
The Council of Trent in 1540 had changed the lecture for the feast of st.Mary Magdalen. In the pre-Tridentine Missal, Magdalen i accorded the reading from the Proverbs 31:10 on the ideal housewife who was trusted by her husband and was industrious in providing non only for her own household but also for the needs of the poor. In the post-Tridentine Missal however, the reading was replaced by a poen from one of the greatest collection of love songs of the ancient world. viz. “the Canticle of Canticles” or Song of Solomon. (6)
... I will arise now, and go about the city:
in the streets and the broad ways
I will seek him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but I found him not.
The watchmen on their rounds in the city found me...
The reading selected for Mary Magdalen describes the loneliness of the girl who is searching everywhere for her beloved but cannot find him. But then He appears to her. She, a ex-sinner will be the first to see the resurrected Christ.
Joseph of Arimatèa
He got mentioned in the gospel of st.John (7). He is described as a wealthy disciple of Jesus, but in fear for the public opinion, he didn’t profess openly his faith in Christ. But he’s offering his tomb as to bury Jesus. That means he’s on the good way ! It isn’t an easy task to become a good christian. He is the catechumen; by doing already one of the seven good works (giving food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, visiting prisoners ..... and burying the deaths) he approaches himself day after day to the real faith. He wants to become a disciple, but it is an intense task to do so. The fatigue in his face, and the strenght in his muscular legs shows you that becoming a follower of Christ is not for all a direct conversion. And doesn’t his brown cloak reminds us of what the pilgrims to Compostella are wearing? But after all, aren’t we all pilgrims on this world toward the Civitas Dei, the City of God? A few years earlier, Andreas Vesalius, a flemish anatomist and physician wrote one of the most influential books on human anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica (On the Structure of Human Body) (8). And as a good Artist, Caravaggio was informed what happened in the other Arts (Arte di Medicina). And painting the figures so natural, we in the congregation can recognize ourselves in the figures.
The vault of the chapel
In the middle we have the Pietà, the mother Mary mourning over the body of her dead so.
On the left is King David and on the right we have the prophets Isaia and Abadcuc.
David
In his hand he has he holds Psalm 88 (87):6. “inter mortuos liber”. Also remarkable is the foot of King David that sticks forward .... like the cornerstone in the work of Caravaggio. Was that the stone on which King David stumbled, when he send is best friend to the frontline in the war, so that he died? But he got redeemed. And became king David.
Conclusion
One of us may be the faithful Mary Cleofa, and an other can recognize himself in st.John, who’s trust in the Lord never vanished. Or maybe, you are the converted person like Mary Magdalen, who will be the first to see the risen Christ? or are you still looking like Joseph of Arimatèa, the catechumen? One thing we know for sure: Mary, the mother of God, keeps us together.
In the spirit of the Council of Trent, and after Martin Luther tried to bring people closer to God by using the vulgar language, the Oratorians of st.Philipp Neri did the same: Ordinary people are making up the congregation.
This church has no chapel of Resurrection, nor, indeed of the Entombment in the traditional sense, showing the rock-tomb in which Christ’s body is being laid. What Caravaggio’s picture does is to represent, in one powerful symbol, both the entombment and the resurrection of Jesus.
Footnotes
(1)O’Connor, Daniel, The Stone Builders Rejected, in “the Irish Theological Quarterly”, Vol 61, n° 1, pp. 2-13
(2)Santa Maria in Vallicella - Chiesa Nuova, BARBIERI, Costanza, BARCHIESI Sofia and FERRARA Daniele, Fratelli Palombi Editori, Roma 1995, note 296, page 183.
(3) Lc. 7:38
(4) Jh. 20:11
(5) Matt. 28:9
(6) Cant. 3:1-3
(7) Jh. 19:38
(8) Vesalius, Andreas. On the Fabric of the Human Body, translated by W. F. Richardson and J. B. Carman. 5 vols. San Francisco and Novato: Norman Publishing, 1998-2009.