The Seven Works of Mercy
This article offers a new interpretation of Caravaggio’s The Seven Works of Mercy by reading the seminal baroque painting through the lens of its context of production. Commissioned by the philanthropic association of the Pio Monte del Misericordia, Caravaggio’s artwork is therefore used as a gatewa...
| Published in: | Aries |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2017
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| In: |
Aries
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da 1571-1610, Die sieben Werke der Barmherzigkeit
/ Symbolics
/ Astrology
/ Interpretation
/ Campanella, Tommaso 1568-1639
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| IxTheo Classification: | AA Study of religion AZ New religious movements CE Christian art |
| Further subjects: | B
Caravaggio
Tommaso Campanella
Caritas
astrology
Works of Mercy
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This article offers a new interpretation of Caravaggio’s The Seven Works of Mercy by reading the seminal baroque painting through the lens of its context of production. Commissioned by the philanthropic association of the Pio Monte del Misericordia, Caravaggio’s artwork is therefore used as a gateway to the philosophical, religious and astrological beliefs of its members. While shedding light on the wider circulation of ideas on caritas and natural magic for which Tommaso Campanella would be a benchmark figure, the article reconciles previous interpretations of the painting that had portrayed Caravaggio as either the painter of nature or the heterodox virtuoso of symbols. By reframing these two levels of analysis as components of a symbiotic, rather than mutually exclusive relationship, the article illuminates the tenacity of pagan references, pauperist religious movements and astrological beliefs in the cultural debate of early seventeenth-century Naples. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0593 |
| Contains: | In: Aries
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700593-01600100 |