Caravaggio

Martyrdom of Saint Ursula

Michelangelo Merisi known as Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio after the name of the place where his parents came from, was born in the nearby city of Milan in 1571. Caravaggio’s life was characterised by a continuous series of escapes and moves from 1606 onwards, the year when he fled Rome after having been sentenced to death by beheading for the murder of Ranuccio Tomassoni, and sought refuge in the city of Naples.

Michelangelo Merisi known as Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio after the name of the place where his parents came from, was born in the nearby city of Milan in 1571. Caravaggio’s life was characterised by a continuous series of escapes and moves from 1606 onwards, the year when he fled Rome after having been sentenced to death by beheading for the murder of Ranuccio Tomassoni, and sought refuge in the city of Naples.

He subsequently moved to Malta and to Sicily, before returning to Naples in 1609 where he was to paint his last known masterpiece, the Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, and where he had already produced other works of great importance, such as the Flagellation of Christ, currently on display at the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, and the Seven Works of Mercy for the church of the Pio Monte della Misericordia. Exhausted and seriously ill, Caravaggio died at Porto Ercole in 1610 at the age of 38.

143 x 180 cm

Date: 1610
Medium: oil on canvas

Introduction

The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula is Caravaggio's last recorded work, painted during his second period in Naples, which was soon followed by the tragic death of the artist. The canvas, initially attributed to Mattia Preti, a Calabrian painter inspired by the work of Caravaggio, was finally attributed to Caravaggio in 1980 thanks to the discovery of certain documents which also confirmed the subject represented in the work. The work had been commissioned by Prince Marco Antonio Doria of Genoa in the year 1610. The subject was chosen as a result of the close relationship between the Prince and Livia Grimaldi, the daughter of Isabella della Tolfa, who was re-married to the Prince. The young lady had taken her vows in Naples under the name of Ursula.

Introduction

The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula is Caravaggio's last recorded work, painted during his second period in Naples, which was soon followed by the tragic death of the artist. The canvas, initially attributed to Mattia Preti, a Calabrian painter inspired by the work of Caravaggio, was finally attributed to Caravaggio in 1980 thanks to the discovery of certain documents which also confirmed the subject represented in the work. The work had been commissioned by Prince Marco Antonio Doria of Genoa in the year 1610. The subject was chosen as a result of the close relationship between the Prince and Livia Grimaldi, the daughter of Isabella della Tolfa, who was re-married to the Prince. The young lady had taken her vows in Naples under the name of Ursula.

According to tradition, Ursula was a young Breton princess who had lived in the fourth century and who had secretly devoted her life to God. After the pagan Prince Etherius had asked for her hand in marriage, Ursula convinced her father to wait for three years before allowing the marriage to go ahead, and then she left for Rome to meet the Pope, accompanied by 11,000 virgins. On the way back, her companions were killed by the Huns who had conquered Cologne, while their King, fascinated by the incredible beauty of Ursula, asked her to be his bride. When the young woman refused, he killed her with an arrow.

The work is at Gallerie d'Italia - Napoli .

Caravaggio chose to depict the final moment of Ursula’s martyrdom, an instant after the arrow had pierced Ursula’s chest. A large dark cloth forms the background to the scene of the five figures, who stand out against the darkness thanks to a flash of light coming from the left.

The tyrant is depicted wearing a vicious grimace, his features almost deformed. He is holding the bow, still strung, in his left hand, while the other hand has just released the string that has shot the lethal arrow.

Ursula remains incredulous before the tyrant - her face distorted seen in profile, her hands to her chest - gazing at the arrow, the instrument of her martyrdom. The pallor of her face contrasts with the red of her cloak and of the blood gushing from her wound.

Behind Ursula, Caravaggio himself is seen among those witnessing the drama, his face turned upwards, his mouth closed in an expression of anguish, almost as if identifying with the martyr’s suffering. This was the last self-portrait of the artist, and reveals his expression troubled by the dramatic events of his life.

Restoration work in 2003 and 2004 has revealed the arm and right hand of a figure silhouetted between the King of the Huns and Ursula, who seems to want to take an active part in the scene and to try and prevent the tragic end to events.