Caravaggio's Conversion on the Way to Damascus
I haven’t done a Faith in Art piece in quite awhile, and when I saw this at Ghost of a Flea, I knew it was time to get back in the game. The painting is Caravaggio’s Conversion on the Way to Damascus, though it’s sometimes mislabeled as The Conversion of St Paul, which is a different work by the gifted artist. From the Wiki description:
On this canvas, Saul is an epileptic and fractured figure, flattened by the divine flash, flinging his arms upward in a funnel. There are three figures in the painting. The commanding muscular horse dominates the canvas, yet it is oblivious to the divine light that defeated his rider’s gravity. The aged groom is human, but gazes earthward, also ignorant of the moment of where God intervenes in human traffic. Only Saul, whose gravity and world has been overturned lies supine on the ground, but facing heaven, arms supplicating rescue. The groom can see his shuffling feet, and the horse can plod its hooves, measuring its steps; but both are blind to the miracle and way. They inhabit the unilluminated gloom of the upper canvas. Saul, physically blinded by the event for three days, suddenly sees the Christian message. For once, his soul can hear the voice of Jesus, asking, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” His sword and his youthful sinews are powerless against this illuminating bolt of faith.
November 2nd, 2009 22:47 pm
do they still do art like this anymore?
truly, sometimes, one picture is worth a thousand words.