An Artist's Life

A detailed Summary of An Artist's Life

Much of the art of the Renaissance was extremely religious in its nature. The paintings from this time are almost entirely scenes from the Bible including: the enunciation of the Virgin Mary, depictions of the infant Jesus Christ, the crucifixion of Christ, and numerous other examples of Christian iconography. One would imagine that virtuous, upstanding artists would have created such angelic works of art. The stunning displays of morality, as seen in the works of many Renaissance painters, are not always a reflection of the artist's lifestyle.

Two examples of artists whose paintings did not reflect their lifestyles were Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio and Fra Filippo Lippi. Both of these artists created works that portrayed Christian iconography with great aesthetic expertise. Among these works are Caravaggio's The Inspiration of Matthew and Lippi's Madonna with the Child and two Angels. Fra Angelico was another artist from this same time period. He is quite a contradiction compared to his contemporaries. Angelico led a very pure life following the Christian morals of the time, unlike his peers.

Caravaggio, while a great artist, had a stormy personal history. Very little is known about his life until it began to be doc

Caravaggio's rebellious life seems quite different from the moral stories his paintings portray. The artwork called The Inspiration of Matthew is a prime example of how his life is not part of his art. This painting originally showed Matthew as a laborer. His face and garments were of a common man and his bare feet were dirty as that of the worker Matthew really was. Because of his plain appearance church officials rejected this work. To replace this painting, Matthew was painted again but in the usual saintly robe. This compromise to the church is just one example of his emotional detachment from the making of his works. This painting has a great amount of Christian imagery involved in it. The most obvious is the fact the painting contains an apostle and an angel in it. This type of work was created for the specific purpose of promoting the church. Meanwhile, Caravaggio, even though he was a great artist and designed religious paintings specifically for the church, led a life not suitable to the religious practice he chose.

Another painter who seemed to be quite a hypocrite in his painting was Fra Filippo Lippi. He was orphaned as a child and put under the care of Carmelite monks. He took the vows of the order at the age of fifteen, and at the age of fifty eloped with a young nun and raised a family. Much took place in these thirty-five years, including numerous transfers between Catholic institutions. Lippi was appointed head of several convents and was quickly removed from office because of his sexual appetite within the nunnery. When it came about that he finally eloped, he had convinced at least five nuns to run away with him. He lived with two of them and was accused of immoral behavior by the church of Florence. Through out all of this activity, Lippi never lost any support from his patronage and still maintaine

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