Slide show by Giuseppe Torchia Translation from Italian by Cesare Bartoccioni

1. CaravaggioCaravaggio
THE CALLING OF SAINTTHE CALLING OF SAINT
MATTHEWMATTHEW
1599-1600
ROMA, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi
Contarelli Chapel
oil on canvas
cm. 322 x cm.340
Slide show by Giuseppe Torchia
Translation from Italian by Cesare Bartoccioni

2. Jesus went out of town and saw a tax
collector in his office: his name was
Matthew. He said to him: "Follow me", and
he stood up and followed Him.

3. The scene takes place in an empty and
badly lit setting where the only furniture
consists of a table and some chairs: it's the
office where duties are collected.

5. On a wall
there's a high
window
opened,
whose glass
is obscured
by a yellowish
paper.

6. Five men are
seated around
the table:
Matthew (in
the middle)
and the other
tax collectors.

7. Two strangers have
just entered the room,
they're standing in
front of the five tax
collectors. One of the
two is Christ who, with
the arm extended, is
pointing at the
character seated in the
middle, at the table.
The other one is Saint
Peter who, with a less
evident gesture,
reiterates the
companion's gesture.

8. The man who is pointed
at is the tax collector
Levi (Matthew). This
one, maybe dazzled by
the light suddenly
entering the room,
seems moving
backwards in a light
motion of astonishment
and, pointing at himself
with his left hand,
seems as if answering:
“Who, me?”.

9. The other
characters seated
show different
behaviours. The
two youths with
the feathered beret
are turning their
look towards the
strangers.

10. The other two
characters on the
left are depicted in
the action of
counting the
money. The old
man with the fur
collar scrutinizes
the counting by the
young man, bent
over the table.

11. The composition
The painting can be divided into two
counterposed parts: on the left, the group
of the five men seated around the table
forms a horizontal block; on the right, the
figures of Christ and Saint Peter follow a
vertical disposition.

12. The costumes, too, stress the counterposition of
the two groups. On one side, Matthew and the tax
collectors elegantly dressed in Caravaggio's own age
fashion.

13. On the other side,
barefooted and wrapped
in old style clothes,
Christ and Saint Peter.
The absence of
footwear
symbolizes the
ideal of poverty
towards which
those who
convert to
Catholicism
must inspire.

14. The two blocks are separated by an
empty space in the centre of the
depiction, only filled by Christ's
right hand * which creates a link
between them.
* Note in the picture below how Christ's hand
reproduces Adam's as painted on the Sistina's
vault by Michelangelo.

15. The Caravaggian realism
In Caravaggio's painting, for the first
time a sacred episode is depicted in a
realistic way and transposed into
present times. The characters around
the table are wearing contemporary
clothing and find themselves in a
setting which observers in that times
could recognize as one of the many
meeting places, a Roman pub in the
1600s.
The artist, in this way, intended to
express a religiousness at the reach of
the popular, humble, poor classes,
sinners included. “The Calling of
Saint Matthew” was thus becoming
the representation of an event which
could happen for any man of that
times, in any time.

16. The light
The intense light beam coming from behind Christ is
not produced by the door opening from where Christ
and Saint Peter have entered. It's a symbolic, not a
physical, light. It represents Grace, that is the offer for
the salvation of the soul. Salvation which is received by
those who turn their look towards It, while the two tax
collectors who remain bent on greedily counting the
money are destined to perdition.

17. Henry IVHenry IV
The canvas is situated in a
French church. At the time of
its realization, the King of
France, Henry IV, a
protestant, had just converted
to Catholicism. He was, for
the Church, a sinner
enlightened by Divine Grace.

18. Saint PeterSaint Peter
Radiographies made in
1951 have revealed that the
figure of Peter was added
subsequently to the first
layer. Its inserting refers to
the vicarial role of the
Church, that is the role of
Christ's representative on
Earth, which is entitled to
interpreting the Scriptures.

19. The spectaclesThe spectacles
The presence of spectacles are
a demonstration of the
scrupulous care Caravaggio
dedicates to each detail of the
painting. Already in use for a
couple of centuries, spectacles
start appearing in Flemish
portraiture. Symbolically, they
could represent “short-
sightedness” which comes from
being blinded by money.

20. Caravaggio's techniqueCaravaggio's technique
Caravaggio painted without
any preparatory drawing. He
only sketched the essential
lines of the figures or of the
objects. In order to to this, he
used a hard point with which
he practised some incisions
on the still fresh preparation.

21. Source:
Federico Zeri, Vocazione di San Matteo,
1998, RCS Libri, Milano