Caravaggio

This is the most fascinating artist I have had the pleasure of discovering. I'll leave it to you to dig out more info about him from the net. To me, he was just a street kid trying to fit into proper society and not really understanding why he kept failing.




For instance, he was commissioned to do a painting of the death of the Virgin Mary and he dutifully painted a drowned whore they fished out of the river! Look at her bloated body and stiff legs! [Click on the picture to enlarge.] This painting, known as The Death of the Virgin, was rejected and returned to Caravaggio.






This is the most moving piece of art I have ever set eyes on. It's called David with Goliath's Head. But it is really Caravaggio painting himself. At this point in his miserable life he was on the run for murder. It's a younger Caravaggio looking with sorrow and contempt at an older Caravaggio. That expression on David's face is simply heart-breaking! Caravaggio died a few months after this painting was completed - without receiving the pardon he had so longed for.

Here's a video of Caravaggio's troubled life by the BBC. I recommend it highly.

Responses to this Blog

I do get responses to my writing from time to time. I've just added some to the bottom of the respective blogs in coloured text.

Here's one I don't know where to put, so I'll stick it here.

From a lady in Kuala Lumpur (10 Jan 2010):

I spent the better part of the last three hours reading your blog … in its entirety! It was time well spent, I declare! I must admit here this is not the first time I’ve read/ browsed through it and some entries I find fascinating and riveting, most (are) informative and others simply beyond my simple mind to comprehend. Nevertheless, you constantly amaze me in the breadth and scope of your interests and the amount of reflection and pondering you do on that diverse range of topics you seem to pore over. Syabas!

"YOU OWE THE USA!"

"WITHOUT THE AMERICANS YOU WOULD BE SPEAKING JAPANESE AND THE EUROPEANS WOULD BE SPEAKING GERMAN TODAY!"

Every time I hear crap like the above, I feel like throwing up. And I seem to be hearing more of it these days. Has Uncle Sam been churning up the propaganda now that the US economy is going downhill?

First of all, what's wrong with speaking German or Japanese? I actually did a one-year German language course back in university. When you speak only English, all your information is effectively censored by the English-speaking British and Americans. For instance, when I look for books on Germany, all I find are travel guides and biographies about Adolf Hitler. Germany is/was the biggest exporter in the world and nobody writes about it!


Second of all, China was actually conquered and occupied by Manchuria from 1644 to 1912 (the Qing Dynasty). Today you won't find Manchuria on a map! Manchuria was absorbed into China and is now Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning in northeastern China! Are the Chinese speaking Manchurian today? Nope, they are speaking Putonghua (or Mandarin)! The same would have happened to the Japanese if they had stayed in China long enough!



Third of all, the USSR - not the USA - defeated Nazi Germany. Look at the Soviet Union's sacrifice compared to America's. What the Yanks really did was to block the Russians from occupying Western Europe. So, without the US, Europe would been speaking Russian, not German!




Look at the USA's teeny-weeny contribution during WW2. The Americans like to over-rate their performance and take all the credit - with lots of help from Hollywood. And the historically-challenged folk swallow it without question. That's what happens when the English-speakers control the mass-media!

[Charts are from Wikipedia.]