Caravaggio: A Passionate Life (21 page)

108
      
Naples the pleasantest of cities
. George Sandys,
A Relation of a Journey begun An. Dom. 1610
. London, 1615.

110
      “
received with great acclaim
.” M. Gregori, “Caravaggio in Naples,” in
Painting in Naples 1606–1705
(ed. C. Whitfield and J. Martineau). London, 1982.

110
      
The Seven Works of Mercy
. V. Pacelli,
Le Sette Opere di Misericordia
. Salerno, 1984.

114
      
heavenly light
. M. Marini,
Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio “pictor praestantissimus
.”

116
      
Ludovico Cardi
. The bull for Il Cigoli’s admission into the order is in Baldinucci,
Notizie dei Professori
, vol. 9. He was admitted “
in gradu Fratrum Militum obedientiae Magistralis
”—the same grade as Caravaggio.

117
      
those who were Genoese
. The nobility of Ottavio Costa’s sons was publicly questioned by some Italian knights. E. W. Schermerhorn,
Malta of the Knights
. London, 1929.

122
      
The first mention of Caravaggio
. J. Azzopardi, “Caravaggio in Malta: An Unpublished Document,” in
The Church of St. John in Valletta 1578–1978
(exhibition catalogue). Malta, 1978.

122
      “
the painter
.” Calvesi believes the Greek painter was Mario Minniti. Calvesi,
La realtà del Caravaggio
.

123
      
a battered if well-preserved old noble
. J. Gash, “The Identity of Caravaggio’s ‘Knight of Malta,’ ”
The Burlington Magazine
, January 1997.

127
      
Alof de Wignancourt
. Dal Pozzo,
Historia della Sacra Religione
, vol. 2.

128
      “
Fra’ Ippolito Malaspina
.” S. Macioce, “
Caravaggio a Malta e suoi referenti: notizie d’archivio
,”
Storia dell’ Arte
81 (1994).

128
      
the Comte de Brie
. Dal Pozzo,
Historia della Sacra Religione
, vol. 2.

130
      
a magistral bull
. J. Azzopardi, “Documentary Sources on Caravaggio’s Stay in Malta,” in
Caravaggio in Malta
(ed. Farrugia Randon).

136
      
Preti lost his temper
. B. de Dominici,
Vite dei Pittori, Scultori ed Architetti Napoletani
, vol. 4. Naples, 1846.

140
      “
living grave
.” D. Calnan,
Knights in Durance
. Malta, 1966.

141
      
In front of the oratory’s altar
. Stone, “The Context of Caravaggio’s ‘Beheading of St. John’ in Malta.”
The Burlington Magazine
, January 1997.

144
      
Orecchio di Dionigi
. A. Hare,
Cities of Southern Italy and Sicily
. London, 1883.

145
      
Minniti had become a well-established local painter
. F. Campagna Cicala, “
Intorno all’ attività di Caravaggio in Sicilia. Due momenti del caravaggismo siciliano. Mario Minniti e Alonso Rodriguez
,”
Caravaggismo in Sicilia, il suo tempo, il suo influsso
(exhibition catalogue). Palermo, 1984.

147
      “
every chance of seeing the storm lanterns hoisted
.” F. Braudel,
La Mediterranée à l’Epoque de Philippe II
. Paris, 1966.

149
      
their city’s semi-independent status
. D. Mack-Smith,
A History of Sicily
, vol. 1 (800–1713). London, 1968.

153
      
the
Madonna della Lettera. T. S. Hughes,
Travels in Sicily, Greece and Albania
. London, 1820.

153
      “
down every steep street
.” Hare,
Cities of Southern Italy and Sicily
.

154
      
schoolmasters had a very unpleasant reputation for pederasty
. Gilbert,
Caravaggio and His Two Cardinals
.

155
      
a visitor to the fair
. Lithgow,
The Totall Discourse of the Rare Adventures and painfull Peregrinations of long nineteen Yeares
. London, 1632.

157
      “
life was dominated by the Inquisition
.” Hibbard,
Caravaggio
.

159
      
the Marchesa di Caravaggio’s palace on the Riviera di Chiaia
. V. Pacelli, “
La morte di Caravaggio e alcuni suoi dipinti da documenti inediti,” Studi di Storia dell’Arte
2 (1992).

160
      
or pouring mercury into their mouths as they slept
. Christopher Marlowe,
Edward the Second
. London, 1594—Lightborn’s speech, “I learn’d in Naples how to poison flowers.”

161
      
a letter to Prince Marcantonio
. F. Bologna and V. Pacelli, “
Caravaggio, 1610: la “Sant’ Orsola confitto dal Tiranno” per Marcantonio Doria. 1. Le evidenze documentarie
…,”
Prospettiva
23 (1980).

163
      
an
Annunciation. Now in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Nancy. Could this commission have come through the duke of Lorraine’s son, the Comte de Brie, who had been his contemporary in the novitiate on Malta?

164
      
one foot still inside the grave
. L. Scaramuccia,
Le finezze de’ penelli italiani
. Pavia, 1674.

165
      
A recently discovered report
. Pacelli,
La morte di Caravaggio
.

166
      
a fishing hamlet guarded by a fort
. Hare,
Days Near Rome
.

167
      
a document
. M. Marini, “
Caravaggio: l’ultima spiaggia. Port’ Ercole
…
un nuovo documento,” Il Tempo
, July 18, 1995.

168
      
wrapped in a knight’s choir mantle
. By custom, even today, the knights are buried in their choir mantles instead of in shrouds.

168
      
an official fabrication … to conceal his murder
. V. Pacelli, “
Una nuova ipotesi sulla morte di Michelangelo Merisi di Caravaggio
,” in
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
(ed. Macioce).

169
      
a document
. O. H. Green and D. Mahon, “Caravaggio’s Death: A New Document,”
The Burlington Magazine
, June 1951.

170
      
Marino
…
published some affectionate verses
. The poem’s full text, taken from Bellori, is in Hibbard,
Caravaggio
.

170
      “
such strange behavior
.” Haskell,
Patrons and Painters
.

170
      
ultimately, he would triumph over sin and death
. S. Rossi, “
Peccato e redenzione negli autoritratti del Caravaggio
,” in
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
(ed. Macioce).

171
      “
Caravaggists
.” B. Nicholson,
The International Caravaggesque Movement
. Oxford, 1990.

172
      
He was going out of favor
. R. E. Spear, “The Critical Fortunes of a Realist Painter,” in
The Age of Caravaggio
.

173
      
The
Nativity. F. Watson,
The Caravaggio Conspiracy
. London, 1980.

About the Author

Desmond Seward was born in Paris and educated at Ampleforth and St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He is the author of many books including The Monks of War: The Military Religious Orders, The Hundred Years War, The Wars of the Roses, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry V as Warlord, Josephus, Masada and the Fall of Judaea (da Capo, US, April 2009), Wings over the Desert: in action with an RFC pilot in Palestine 1916–18 (Haynes Military, July 2009) and Old Puglia: A Portrait of South Eastern Italy (Haus August 2009).