Maria Merian, Rachel Ruysch and Caravaggio

Maria Merian

born in 1647, lived in germany, parents were engraver & publisher, father died when she was young, mother married still-life painter Jacob Marrel. Painted her first images of insects & plants at 13.

In 1665 Merian married Marrell's apprentice, Johann Andreas Graff. Two years later she had her first child, Johanna Helena, and the family moved to Nuremberg. While living there, Maria Sibylla continued painting, working on parchment and linens, and creating designs for embroidery patterns. She took on many students, which helped the family financially, and increased their social standing. This provided her with access to the finest gardens, maintained by the wealthy and elite.

Published several books on life of insects, moved to Amsterdam in 1690.died in 1717. daughter published posthumous work.

Rachel Ruysch was the eldest child of Frederik Ruysch and Maria Post. As a little girl she had shown an aptitude for drawing and painting, a talent undoubtedly inherited from her mother’s side of the family, among whom were several artists. Of these, her grandfather, the architect Pieter Post, was the most famous. He was the master builder who worked for the court of the House of Orange in The Hague, where family members from both her mother’s and her father’s side were recruited to work for the court and the government authorities. Some held official positions, while others contributed to entertainment and public relations by providing such things as poems or paintings. Ruysch was born in the Hague and moved to Amsterdam when she was 3. Her father, Frederik Ruysch became a renowned anatomist. At 14, Rachel was apprenticed to Willem van Aelst, who was considered the best still-life painter in Amsterdam. she specialized in compositions with flowers, such as those painted by Van Aelst and Jan 

Davidsz de Heem. Her flower paintings also depicted ‘composed’ bouquets, based on specimens from the botanical gardens (where her father lectured in botany) and on preserved flowers from her father’s collection. Ruysch married the painter Jurriaan Pool. She had just given birth to her first child, but motherhood did not prevent her from continuing her career as a painter. Rachel had meanwhile become very successful. She was paid substantial sums for her flower still lifes, and in 1699, in recognition of her work, she was asked to become a member of the Hague painters’ confraternity Pictura. She was the first woman to receive this honor. Rachel was given commissions by wealthy clients and could thus concentrate on painting only a few works per year, devoting several months to each. Orders had to be placed a long time in advance. In 1708 she was offered the post of court painter to the Elector Palatine. In the spring of 1711, she sold two paintings to a cloth merchant for 1500 guilders. Her family won the Dutch lottery for 200 guilders. In 1722 her son won 75000 guilders. She continued to work while in her 80's. Ruysch died in 1750 at age 86. About a hundred paintings by her are known. The background of the paintings are usually dark. She was viewed as one of the greatest flower painters of either gender. She stood out from most female contemporaries because she was more ambitious and her paintings were startlingly realistic and, at the same time, symbolic.

 

Caravaggio

Four hundred years ago on July 18th, 1610, the great Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio after his hometown in Lombardy, died at the age of 38 in the unremarkable town of Porto Ercole while on the run from the law. He spent the last 4 years of his life wandering from Naples to Malta to Sicily trying to escape an indictment for murder (he was guilty; he killed a young man, Ranuccio Tomassoni, in a brawl over a tennis game). He traveled to Porto Ercole on his way back to Rome after he received some assurances that he would be pardoned. Instead, he became ill with a fever and died in the town. All kinds of theories abound about the circumstances of his death, everything from heatstroke to malaria to murder. The temperamental artist made a lot of enemies in his life, including powerful ones like the Knights of Malta. However, the exact cause of his sad and sordid death remains unknown. His body was buried in an unmarked grave in a local cemetery and forgotten.

Calling of Saint Matthew

Caravaggio set the Calling of Saint Matthew in a dark 17th century Roman basement. Matthew looks less like a corrupt public official than a small time chiseller running an extortion racket. Christ and Peter appear to be interrupting as Matthew and his crooked accountant count out the payroll for the hired muscle, the thugs who shake down shopkeepers and residents. They are wearing the gangster fashions of 17th century Rome, and Caravaggio is fascinated with them. They appear more prominently lit than either Matthew or Christ.
The brightest face in the whole painting is the young man with the round cheeks leaning on Matthew’s shoulder (probably Mario Minnitti, Caravaggio’s friend, companion, and sometime lover). The one in front seems startled at the intrusion and ready to either flee or draw his very conspicuous sword. Caravaggio seems much more genuinely drawn to the criminal glamour, and sex appeal, of these two thugs than to the story itself. We’d hardly know that this was a religious painting at all but for its presence in a church. Christ barely appears here. He almost vanishes in a pool of dark shadow on the right, eclipsed by Peter, who seems to be vigorously protesting his Master’s recruitment decision.