Gemäldegalerie Celebrates 400th Anniversary of Caravaggio’s Death with Exhibition

BERLIN.- Two paintings by Caravaggio can be found in German collections: the Gemäldegalerie‘s ‘Amor Vincit Omnia’ (or ‘Amor Victorious’) and ‘Doubting Thomas’ in the Picture Gallery at Schloss Sanssouci. Both paintings were created for the marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani and were brought to Berlin when the Giustiniani collection was acquired in 1815.

The 400th anniversary of Caravaggio’s death is good cause to place these two works on show together. Thanks to the loan of ‘Doubting Thomas’ by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg, both paintings can now be admired in the Gemäldegalerie. The presentation of these two pictures is enhanced by further loans, including Caravaggio’s depiction of Saint John the Baptist as a boy from the Musei Capitolini’s Pinacoteca in Rome. As well as works by Caravaggio himself, this special show is enriched by works in which the phenomenal power of Caravaggio’s revolutionary art becomes clearly visible in other painters: in works by the Utrecht Caravaggisti, paintings by Caravaggio’s Italian contemporaries, works by Peter Paul Rubens and, finally, by Rembrandt.

Master Draughtsmen from Caravaggio’s Circle
It is a widely held view that Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, (Milan 1571 – Porto Ercole 1610), the revolutionary painter of real life, never made drawings himself and also eschewed using preparatory drawings to create his paintings, but rather transferred his impressions of nature and of real people directly onto his canvases.
It is indeed true that until today, not a single drawing is known to us that could be plausibly identified as being by the hand of the great artist himself. Furthermore, drawings by the many painters who were heavily influenced by his seminal works are also rare. In spite of this, however, some 16 sheets of great interest, from the period dating from around 1600 to ca. 1630 have been selected from the Kupferstichkabinett’s extensive and exquisite collection of drawings and prints that clearly illustrate the significance of the artistic medium of drawing in Caravaggio’s circle.

This one-room show, presented by the Kupferstichkabinett, accompanies the Gemäldegalerie’s exhibition ‘Homage to Caravaggio 1610-2010′ that will be on display from 12 November 2010 to 6 March 2011 in the Gemäldegalerie, Kulturforum Potsdamer Platz, held to mark the 400th anniversary of the great artist’s death.

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