Battistello Caracciolo

Early life

The only substantial early source of biography is Bernardo de' Dominici's unreliable publication of 1742. De Dominici's statements are often contradicted by documented facts and others cannot be substantiated independently. Archival documents state that Caracciolo was born in Naples and baptised on 7 December 1578, as the son of Cesare Caracciolo and his wife Elena. The family lived in the parish of San Giovanni Maggiore.

On 3 August 1598, at the age of twenty, Caracciolo married Beatrice de Mario. They had ten children, of whom eight survived to adulthood.

Caravaggesque phase

His initial training was said to be with Francesco Imparato and Fabrizio Santafede, but the first impulse that directed his art came from Caravaggio's sudden arrival in Naples in late 1606. Caravaggio had fled there after killing a man in a brawl in Rome, and he arrived at the end of September or beginning of October 1606. His stay in the city lasted only about eight months, with another brief visit in 1609/1610 leading to his 1610–1615 Baptism of Christ, yet his impact on artistic life there was profound.

Caracciolo, only five years younger than Caravaggio, was among the first Neapolitans to adopt the startling new style with its sombre palette, dramatic tenebrism, and sculptural figures in a shallow picture plane defined by light rather than by perspective. He is considered to be the solitary founder of the Neapolitan school of Caravaggism. Among the other Neapolitan Caravaggisti were Giuseppe Ribera, Carlo Sellitto, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Caracciolo's pupil, Mattia Preti, then early in his career.

Caracciolo's Caravaggesque phase was fundamental to his entire career. His first contact with Caravaggio must have been around the time of the Radolovich commission, dated 6 October 1606, and the contacts continued through Caravaggio's completion of the Seven Works of Mercy during the last months of that year and early 1607. A notable result of Caravaggio's influence is Caracciolo's The Crucifixion of Christ, with its strong echoes of the Crucifixion of Saint Andrew.

In 1607, he painted the Immaculate Conception for the Santa Maria della Stella in Naples. It is considered to be his first documented Caravaggesque painting.

In 1612, he made a trip to Rome. A work showing the influence of this visit, and especially that of Orazio Gentileschi, is the Liberation of Saint Peter (1615), painted for the Pio Monte della Misericordia, to hang next to Caravaggio's Seven Works of Mercy painted for the same church. By this time he had become the leader of the new Neapolitan school, dividing his time between religious subjects (altarpieces and, unusually for a Caravaggist, frescos) and paintings for private patrons.

After 1618 he visited Genoa, Rome and Florence. In Rome he came under the influence of the revived Classicism of the Carracci cousins and the Emilian school, and began working towards a synthesis of their style with his own tenebrism – his Cupid, with its bravura handling of the red cloth, shows the influence of the Carracci synthesis. Back in Naples, he translated this into grandiose, wide-ranging scenes including his masterpiece Christ Washing the Feet of the Disciples of 1622, painted for the Certosa di San Martino. He also painted further works in the Certosa di San Martino, Santa Maria La Nova and San Diego all'Ospedaletto and these works of the late second decade of the 17th century onward, show the strong influence of Bolognese classicism he might have been exposed to in Rome.

He died in Naples, in the few days between creating his last will, on 19 December 1635, and 24 December 1635, when it was opened and read.

Gallery

File:Immaculate Conception with Saints Dominic and Francis of Paola.jpg|Immaculate Conception with Saints Dominic and Francis of Paola, (1607) File:BattistelloSalome.jpg|Salome. Uffizi Gallery, Florence. The painting illustrates Battistello's mastery of the visual language of Caravaggio. File:Battistello Martirio de San Sebastián Fogg Art Museum.jpg|Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian (Fogg Art Museum) File:BATTISTELLO CARACCIOLO.jpg|Joseph and Potiphar's wife (1618) File:Battistello Caracciolo Tobias und der Engel.jpg|Tobias and the Angel (1635) File:Battistello Caracciolo - Christ and Caiaphas - WGA04065.jpg|Christ and Caiaphas File:Oratorio dei Nobili - Battistello Caracciolo.jpg|Nativity in the Oratory of the Nobles File:Battistello Caracciolo, Vergine che accoglie sotto il manto Santi carmelitani, quattro Sante e Storie dell'Ordine.jpg|Virgin welcomes the Carmelites File:Battistello,_madonna_delle_anime_purganti_tra_i_ss._francesco_e_chiara,_1625_ca.,_da_s._chiara_a_nola.JPG|Madonna of the Souls in Purgatory (Capodimonte)

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Ferdinando Bologna (Herausgeber) Battistello Caracciolo e il primo naturalismo a Napoli, Ausstellungskatalog Castel San Elmo, Chiesa della Certosa di San Martino, 1991/92
• Stefano Causa Battistello Caracciolo: L'Opera Completa 1578–1635, Neapel 2000 (Causa promovierte über Battistello an der Universität Neapel: Ricerche su Battistello Caracciolo 1994/95)
• Nicola Spinosa u.a. Tres Siglos de Oro de la Pintura Napolitana. De Battistello Caracciolo a Giacinto Gigante, Ausstellungskatalog, Museum der Schönen Künste Valencia 2003/4, Ed. Caja Duero, 2003

References

1. de' Dominici, Bernardo. (1742). "Vite dei Pittori, Scultori, ed Architetti Napolitani". Nella Stamperia del Ricciardia.
2. Stoughton, Michael. (April 1978). "Giovanni Battista Caracciolo: New Biographical Documents". The Burlington Magazine.
3. Salinger, Margaretta. (January 1937). "Christ and the Woman of Samaria by Caracciolo". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin.
4. Pacelli, Vincenzo. (December 1977). "New Documents concerning Caravaggio in Naples". The Burlington Magazine.
5. Wittkower, Rudolf. (1999). "Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600–1750: The High Baroque, 1625–1675, Volume 2". Yale University Press.
6. Pacelli, Vincenzo. (August 1978). "Caracciolo Studies". The Burlington Magazine.
7. (1992). "Jusepe de Ribera, 1591–1652". The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
8. (1985). "The Age of Caravaggio". Metropolitan Museum of Art.
9. Spinosa, Nicola. (2012). "Caravaggio's Rome: 1600-1630". Skira Editore S.p.A..