Caravaggio’s Final Painting is Being Brought to London’s National Gallery this April
By Mia Hart
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) stands as a pioneering force in the art world. His works, characterized by their vivid emotional expression, dynamic lighting and compelling narratives, have had a lasting impact on European art.
Caravaggio, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, 1610.
There is no better painting to reflect Caravaggio’s final dramatic years than his last known masterpiece, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (1610), which is being brought to London’s National Gallery for the first time in twenty years on 18th April.
St Ursula was a Christian martyr who was murdered by the King of the Huns in 383AD. Accompanied by eleven thousand virgins, she travelled to Cologne where the chief of the pagan Huns fell in love with her. After St Ursula rejected his offer of marriage, he shot her with an arrow.
Coinciding with his turbulent spirit, Caravaggio subverted artistic convention as much as he subverted order on the streets. Departing from other representations of the myth which portrayed St Ursula surrounded by iconography of martyrdom and virgin companions, Caravaggio depicts the exact moment of murder with an unflinching realism.
The cropped composition forces the figures to the foreground, confronting us with violence at an uncomfortable proximity. Caravaggio’s characteristic chiaroscuro charges the scene with an emotional intensity. The deep shadows which envelop the peripheral figures contribute to the painting’s forbearance, underscoring the tensons between sin and redemption, life and death, forbearance and perverseness. Glints of light reverberate around the composition; the mortal luminescence of her fading body echoes the metallic shards on the armour. The paint is thick impasto, the brushworks dynamically adding texture and depth to the scene. She clutches her wound which spurts crimson threads, merging with the searing red of her cloak. Instead of shrieking discomfort, St Ursula’s face is engaged in contemplative sorrow, embodying spiritual resilience amongst the anxiously dynamic gestures of the figures around her.
Caravaggio depicts himself as a hopeless onlooker in the top right corner, while the King stands disconcerted, painfully close to the Saint, witnessing his own infliction of death occur. Racked by both rage and guilt, his psychological verisimilitude is palpable.
The Gallery’s director Dr Gabriele Finaldi says that ‘Deeply affecting and tragic in tone, Caravaggio’s last picture seems to reflect the artist’s troubled and anxious mental state as he prepared to leave Naples and return to Rome.’ Indeed, it was hastily completed by Caravaggio after its commission by the Genoese merchant, Marcantonio, in 1610; he delivered it still wet to his agent. He was journeying to Naples in order to seek the Pope’s pardon after the murder of Ranuccio Tommassoni in 1606. This never occurred, however, as he died en route, under circumstances which remain uncertain.
The captivating piece is being placed in dialogue with its letter of commission and Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (1609-10) until 21st July, 2024. These two paintings address themes of intense violence and mortality, elucidating new perspectives on the renowned artist’s final days and his exploration of religious motifs to probe the intricacies of human emotion.
Bibliography
Gareth Harris, “Secrets of Caravaggio’s last masterpiece revealed in new London show,” The Art Newspaper, 2024. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/04/03/secrets-of-caravaggios-last-masterpiece-revealed-in-new-london-show
The National Gallery Press Office , “The Last Caravaggio”, https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/about-us/press-and-media/press-releases/the-last-caravaggio