The San Luigi dei Francesi Churc it is not far from Piazza Navona, near Corso Rinascimento.

Once you enter, walk along the entire left nave and, right at the end, in the Contarelli Chapel, three wonders will open up before your eyes:

• the “Vocazione di San Matteo”;
• the “Martirio di San Matteo”;
• and “S. Matteo e l’Angelo”.

Caravaggio managed to obtain this commission in his early twenties, following a refusal to continue the decoration by the Cavalier d'Arpino, in whose workshop the artist had "applied himself to painting flowers and fruit". Caravaggio first created the side canvases (1599-1600).

In the Vocation (the canvas on the left), the moment of the "calling" of St. Matthew by Christ is represented: the artist places the scene in his time, as we see the tax collectors dressed in the fashion of the seventeenth century.

What makes the scene suggestive is the beam of light coming from above which, almost touching Christ's hand, comes to illuminate the recipient of that "pointed index finger":

in fact, it is not a question of naturalistic light but of "divine" light. In the Martyrdom (the central canvas) the composition hinges on the figure of the executioner, who prepares for the final thrust on the Saint, lying at his feet, while an angel rushes to offer the palm of martyrdom. Finally, as regards the central canvas, the St. Matthew and the Angel (the canvas on the right), what we see today is the second version that Caravaggio represented:

the first version was in fact rejected, as it showed the Saint as being illiterate, "with his feet roughly exposed to the people", and the Angel guiding his hand as he was almost incapable of writing.

This second version is instead more composed, although the contrast between the figure of Saint Matthew, "human too human", and that of the angel, created according to Mannerist canons, is maintained.

The themes of both paintings present in the Pinacoteca Capitolina, the “Buona Ventura” (1593-4) and the “S. John the Baptist” (1602), were addressed several times by Caravaggio.

Of the first work, the game of glances that the artist creates between the two figures is interesting: it is a gypsy who, while pretending to read the palm of a naive young man from the wealthy class, with a cunning gesture takes the ring from his hand finger.

The second work, as already mentioned, is a practically identical copy of the one preserved in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery.

Moving from Piazza del Popolo towards Piazza Venezia, almost at the end of Via del Corso you will come across the Doria Pamphilj Gallery on the right, where you can make a nice trio as the Gallery hosts 3 works by Caravaggio:

• the “Maddalena Penitente” (1595 ca.),
• the “Riposo durante la Fuga in Egitto” (1595 ca.)
• and one of two identical versions of the “S. Giovanni Battista” (1602).

In the first work, the religious theme is represented in a domestic key, with the contrite Magdalene at the center of an empty space, who has just abandoned a necklace of pearls and jewels on the ground, as a sign of her abandonment of worldly life.

The second work represents a true masterpiece of his youthful phase: the space is in fact organized in a completely original way, with the two groups of figures (St. Joseph on one side and the Virgin and Child on the other) connected through the central figure of the Angel, represented from behind; the latter plays the notes of the Song of Songs on the violin, the score of which is held open by Giuseppe.

CARAVAGGIO EXHIBITION AT PALAZZO BARBERINI

The Borghese Gallery collects the largest group of Caravaggio's works in Rome. Among the painter's early works, the "Boy with a Basket of Fruit" and the "Sick Bacchino" (1593-4) are simply magnificent. In the first work, the attention to detail is striking, in depicting the "still life" that the young man holds in his hand (see for example the bloody crack of the ripe fig or the rendering of the leaves, sometimes yellowed and sometimes pitted).

Del Bacchino Malato is said to be a self-portrait of Caravaggio, who decided to portray himself during a period of illness. Among Caravaggio's works from his more mature period, here you can admire in particular the "Madonna dei Palafrenieri" (1605-6) and "David with the Head of Goliath" (1609-10).

In the Madonna dei Palafrenieri, we recognize once again Lena Antognetti in the face of the Madonna; In David with the Head of Goliath, we instead wanted to identify once again the same artist in the features of Goliath, confirming a reading of the same in a psychoanalytic key (we are in the years of the artist's death sentence, who nevertheless fled ).

Santa Maria del Popolo Basilic  it is easily found, as it is located right on Piazza del Popolo, near the Gate that opens onto the Aurelian Walls. The Cerasi Chapel opens onto the transept, and here the works of Caravaggio are exhibited:

• “Conversione di S. Paolo” (1660-1),
• and “Crocifissione di S. Pietro” (1600-1).

In the first, St. Paul is represented lying on the ground, in a foreshortened position, at the feet of the horse, as he fell when he was struck by the "very strong light of revelation": the divine event is totally "internalized", once again thanks to the use of a symbolic light.