5. Fame
In 1595, Caravaggio’s luck suddenly turned. That year began inauspiciously with Caravaggio hospitalised after being kicked by a horse, but after recovering he decided to strike out alone, and sell his own paintings through an agent. At this stage, Caravaggio had produced over 40 paintings, and the greater publicity for his talents brought him to the attention of Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, who purchased two secular works, The Cardsharps and The Gypsy Fortune Teller. Del Monte swiftly took Caravaggio under his wing before anyone else noticed his talents, housing him in his own home and giving him a pension.
Del Monte also secured Caravaggio numerous commissions for the homes of his powerful friends. His role as ambassador for the powerful Medici family of Florence, notable patrons of the arts, also resulted in some of Caravaggio’s most famous early works. The Medici were especially fond of secular or Classical art, and so he produced the Medusa Shield (above), a striking self-portrait, and the Adolescent Bacchus. The Medici identified themselves with the Greek hero Perseus, who slew the Gorgon, and so depicting Medusa’s head on the shield-face was a cleverly literal imagination of this peccadillo for the shield’s bearer.
The commission that really made Caravaggio’s name was decorating the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome with depictions of the life of St Matthew in 1597. Caravaggio completed the commission in 1601, but despite the quality of his three paintings, the collection was not without controversy. Rather than depict Matthew in the stylised, adoring fashion of tradition, he insisted on vividly realistic portrayals set in the present day to emphasise the prescience of the Gospel’s message. Some were shocked, but the Contarelli Chapel secured him further prominent and well-paid commissions across the Holy City.