Friday, July 27, 2007

Caravaggio, The Fortune-Teller

(click the image to enlarge it)

From Peter Robb's M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio:

In the Fortune teller the dynamic . . . was something going on between the boy and the girl inside the picture and left you free to enjoy it. What made the picture delightful, made it sharp as well as sweet, was the poise between the ingenuous boy and the shy girl--the sweet but silly boy with his plumes and his gloves and his pleased sense that she was finding him pretty attractive, and the girl who was slipping the ring from the boy's finger with such delicacy that she seemed to deserve it. The two were distributed evenly on the canvas, a pair of opposites linked in the play of their hands and the switch of sexual roles--the boy being pretty, dressed up, passive and duped, while the girl controlled and orchestrated the exchange. The play of the glances was marvellous, especially the girl's. Her role was the painter's--holding things in balance, not being too obvious, keeping it playful. . . .

Everyone remembered this painting. Real life and delicate eroticism weren't what people were used to in art and the novelty was startling. (49-50)

More regular posting here to resume in a couple of weeks.

7 comments:

Robert said...

Your description is, I feel, more worthy than the picture. I love the picture, though the colours seem to be dimmed (by restoration or the internet?) There is I think less passion here than I expect from Caravaggio.

Your two weeks are up John!! We miss your regular posts!

Robert said...

Since writing the last comment, I have changed my opinion John and made a post about it on my Dorset blog.

Scoala de soferi said...

I love Caravaggio pictures!

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is not always observe a painting like this but also know a little more involved and then it seems more fascinating

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