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characteristic of Caravaggio’s mature style and displays all the qualities for which he became famous—and for which he received scathing criticism (see “Giovanni Pietro Bellori,” page 722).

In Calling of Saint Matthew and his other religious paintings (!"#$. 24-17A, 24-17B, and 24-18)—Caravaggio injected naturalism into the representation of sacred subjects, reducing them to human dramas played out in the harsh and dingy settings of his time and place. %e unidealized &gures that he selected from the &elds and the streets of Italy, however, were e'ective precisely because of their familiarity. %e commonplace setting of Calling of Saint Matthew— a tavern with unadorned walls—is typical of Caravaggio’s mature canvases. Into this mundane environment, cloaked in mysterious shadow and almost unseen, Christ, identi&able initially only by his indistinct halo, enters from the right. With a commanding gesture, he summons Levi, the Roman tax collector, to a higher calling (see “Early Christian Saints,” pages 246–247). %e astonished Levi— his face highlighted for the viewer by the beam of light emanating from an unspeci&ed source above Christ’s head and outside the picture—points to himself in disbelief. Although Christ’s extended arm is reminiscent of the Lord’s in Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam (!"#. 22-18), the position of his hand and wrist is similar to Adam’s. %is reference was highly appropriate, because the Church consid- ered Christ to be the second Adam. Whereas Adam was responsible for the fall of humankind, Christ is the vehicle of its redemption. %e conversion of Levi (who became Matthew) brought his salvation.

Tenebrism. In Caravaggio’s many paintings of religious scenes, the &gures are still heroic, with powerful bodies and clearly delin- eated contours in the Renaissance tradition, but the stark and dra- matic contrast of light and dark, which at &rst shocked and then fascinated his contemporaries, obscures the more traditional aspects of his style. Art historians call Caravaggio’s use of dark set- tings that envelop their occupants—which profoundly in(uenced

in Caravaggio’s troubled life (police records are an important source of information about the artist), Caravaggio received many commis- sions, both public and private, and numerous painters paid him the supreme compliment of borrowing from his innovations. His in(u- ence on later artists, as much outside Italy as within, was immense.

One of Caravaggio’s earliest major works is Musicians (!"#. 24-16A), painted while the young artist was living in the household of Francesco Maria Bourbon Del Monte (1549–1627), whom Sixtus V appointed cardinal in 1588. Del Monte was a lover of art and music who headed a papal committee to study the reform of liturgical music and who oversaw the Sistine Choir, at that time an all- male ensemble of soprano singers. Caravaggio moved into Del Monte’s home in the Palazzo Madama and drew a salary from the cardinal in return for producing an unspeci- &ed number of paintings while in his employ. %is arrangement assured the gi)ed young painter a steady income for the &rst time and enabled him to hire a servant, who also lived in the cardinal’s palace. Contemporaneous accounts describe Caravaggio at that time as a frequenter of taverns who always carried a sword, an illegal act for which he was arrested at least twice. (%e police dropped the charges each time upon learn- ing of his relationship to Del Monte.)

Calling of Saint Matthew. Del Monte’s home in Rome was next to the church of San Luigi dei Francesi (Saint Louis of the French), and the cardinal was instrumental in obtaining for Caravaggio the commission to provide paintings honoring Saint Matthew for the Contarelli chapel in the le) aisle near the apse of the church. Call- ing of Saint Matthew (!"#. 24-17) is one of them. %e painting is

24-17 C!"!#!$$%&, Calling of Saint Matthew, ca. 1597–1601. Oil on canvas, 119 10 ' 119 50. Contarelli chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome.

The stark contrast of light and dark is a key feature of Caravaggio’s style. Here, Christ, cloaked in mysterious shadow, summons Levi the tax collector (Saint Mat- thew) to a higher calling.

24-16A CARAVAGGIO, Musicians, ca. 1595.

24-17A CARAVAGGIO, Conversion of Saint Paul, ca. 1601.

24-17B CARAVAGGIO, Entombment, ca. 1603.

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