{"id":57473,"date":"2023-03-13T18:01:03","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T18:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queertuscanytours.com\/?p=57473"},"modified":"2023-03-13T18:14:46","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T18:14:46","slug":"posing-as-a-gay-bacchus-caravaggio-and-the-queer-art-at-the-uffizi-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queertuscanytours.com\/en\/posing-as-a-gay-bacchus-caravaggio-and-the-queer-art-at-the-uffizi-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"Posing as a gay Bacchus: Caravaggio and the Queer Art at the Uffizi Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row type=”vc_default” css=”.vc_custom_1473180234920{padding-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-1 vc_col-lg-10 vc_col-md-offset-1 vc_col-md-10″][vc_column_text]Michelangelo Merisi<\/b> (1571-1610), better known as <\/span>Caravaggio<\/b>, wasn\u2019t just a notorious gay artist, but the leader of a veritable <\/span>queer artistic revolution<\/b> who enjoyed breaking the rules of traditional iconography while <\/span>refusing to follow the teachings<\/b> all artists were given. One of the aspects that best describe his character was his particular proclivity for choosing <\/span>street boys and prostitutes<\/b> as painting models. In a period when artists were supposed to look for inspiration in classical works, Caravaggio would point at the <\/span>Roman crowd<\/b> and say, \u201c<\/span>I already got my models<\/span><\/i>\u201d. Needless to say, this <\/span>angered the bigots<\/b> who found this practice shocking and <\/span>totally inappropriate<\/b> given that the vast majority of his patrons were <\/span>members of the Roman clergy<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Evidently, Caravaggio<\/span> never really cared much about judgment<\/b>. Actually, it looks like he enjoyed being at the center of attention. When he moved to Rome from <\/span>Lombardy<\/b>, he became famous for his unorthodox <\/span>naturalistic style<\/b> which must have piqued the interest of the urban <\/span>elite<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Inspired by the Roman <\/span>urban jungle<\/b>, Caravaggio combined the <\/span>hustle and bustle<\/b> of the 17th century city with <\/span>classical subjects<\/b> only to <\/span>disrupt the traditional way of painting<\/b> and pave the way to a modern art which would appeal to the <\/span>senses<\/b> rather than the mind.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]In his <\/span>early works<\/b>, commissioned by rich aristocrats, bankers and<\/span> princes of the Church<\/b>, Caravaggio often exploits the theme of a <\/span>young adulthood<\/b> to satisfy his patrons (who were probably gay themselves), and give them an <\/span>erotically charged subject<\/b>. Young seductive boys with their mouths <\/span>half-open<\/b>, their skin <\/span>soft and white<\/b> as a pearl, partially <\/span>undressed<\/b> to <\/span>lure the viewers<\/b>: these are Caravaggio beautiful ideal models, some of whom were his lovers, like <\/span>Mario Minniti<\/b> and <\/span>Cecco Bonneri<\/b>. As he knew only too well, sex always sells and in Rome, the capital of Baroque <\/span>sexual decadence<\/b>, it <\/span>sold even more<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]When he painted <\/span>Bacchus<\/i><\/b> (circa 1596), Caravaggio was living under the protection of <\/span>Cardinal Del Monte<\/b>, an eccentric character originally from <\/span>Tuscany<\/b> and a close friend of <\/span>Grand Duke Ferdinando de\u2019 Medici<\/b>. Del Monte was so <\/span>influential<\/b> that Caravaggio endlessly <\/span>bragged about<\/b> his patronage and felt he could <\/span>carry a sword<\/b> just because he was his friend, even though he had no legal right (walking around the streets with a weapon was the prerogative of aristocracy). The cardinal was passionate about art, science (<\/span>Galileo Galilei <\/b>famously gave him one of his telescopes) and <\/span>music plays<\/b>. Concerts at his palace attracted many members of the <\/span>Roman upper class<\/b> – all <\/span>men<\/b>, of course – and sometimes a fair degree of <\/span>transvestism<\/b> was part of the entertainment.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not hard to imagine Caravaggio trying to <\/span>please his crowd<\/b> with ambiguous pagan subjects. His choice of <\/span>Bacchus<\/b> can be traced back to Greco-roman god\u2019s popularity in the <\/span>Renaissance<\/b>, particularly with artists like <\/span>Michelangelo<\/b> who had sculpted a <\/span>Drunken Bacchus<\/i><\/b> for Cardinal Raffaele Riario in 1496 (unfortunately, the cardinal found Michelangel\u2019s work a little too <\/span>adventurous<\/b> and gave it to the Roman banker <\/span>Jacopo Galli)<\/b>. However, what strikes us in Caravaggio\u2019s Bacchus is a <\/span>realistic depiction<\/b> of the god of <\/span>wine<\/b> and <\/span>wilderness<\/b>, less idealized than any other before.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”vc_default” css=”.vc_custom_1473180314875{padding-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_column]