How to Read Paintings: The Inspiration of St Matthew by Caravaggio
The power of simplicity in this baroque masterpiece
Look at this painting. What is going on in it? An ageing man is working at a wooden table. He has an ink quill in his hand and an open book before him. His work has been interrupted by a young boy. Their eyes are locked in an intense dialogue. The boy appears to be descending from above.
Look at the boy more closely. Can you tell how he hangs there? The way the light falls on his arms and shoulders makes his upper torso easy to see. The rest of his body, as it disappears into those swirling folds of white fabric, is less straightforward to determine. He is part human and part something else. It is only after a while that you realise he has two substantial wings flapping from his back.
It is one of the brilliant aspects of this painting that it moves so boldly between tangible realism and extraordinary artifice. Look at the boy again. By the gesture of his hands he appears to be explaining something.
If you are familiar with the subject matter of the painting, you’ll know that the man depicted is the…
