Death, Suffering and Violence: The Myth of Caravaggio

Alison Millar
Trinity College Dublin
Department of History of Art and Architecture
2017
BA

Subject: Painting and Sculpture
Country: Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium
Period: 17th Century

10,000 words

This dissertation is an exploration of violent imagery in the first half of the seventeenth century. The thesis focuses on Caravaggio’s religious works of death and martyrdom examining them in context with other seventeenth century works. The central objective of the dissertation is to dispel the myth of Caravaggio as a violent painter due to his frequent altercations and involvement in the murder of Ranuccio Tomassi, as recorded in his biographies. This is achieved by placing the work of Caravaggio within the tradition of violent religious imagery. The research presented shows that not only do Caravaggio’s paintings fit into a culture of violent images, but that some of the discussed works are lacking in violence in comparison to contemporary presentations of the same subject.

Irish Georgian Society

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Death, Suffering and Violence: The Myth of Caravaggio