One of the things we wanted to do in Rome was visit the Caravaggio paintings that are still located where they were originally meant to be, in church chapels here and there around the city. We’re not fans of the Baroque, but we like Caravaggio. A supremely talented but hot-tempered and violent bad-boy, he was always that close to jail or the wrong end of a sword. Living to a ripe old age was not in the cards for him, and he produced a body of great work in the brief time he had.
So, why is he great? We could give you the canonical explanation but we’ll go with our personal reasons. Caravaggio really knew how to grab a viewer. If he were around today he’d make a great action flick director or ad man (or possibly producer for some unhinged personality like Glenn Beck). Caravaggio pulls you in with his technical abilities - how he composes the painting, his use of dark shadows and bright light - but the zinger is the subtext he brings to the subject. Caravaggio was commissioned to paint standard religious stories, but he cocked a snook at both his patrons and the Catholic church in the way he did it. Caravaggio used the neighborhood thugs and low-lifes as models, and he didn’t pretty them up for the purpose. They are dirty, aggressive and the worse for wear. His Madonnas vs. our Madonna would make an interesting cage-match, in fact.
We liked all the Caravaggios we visited, including the Crucifixion of St. Peter, the Conversion of St.Paul and the St.Matthew paintings, but our favorite was the Madonna di Loreto or the Madonna of the Pilgrims, which is in Sant’Agostino near the Piazza Navona. We like it because the Madonna looks a little cheesed that these two hard-luck cases have shown up at her door. You just know she’s having a bad day already, what with the kid getting into everything and the laundry piling up. The last thing she needed was these two showing up wanting what…? A look at her chubby kid? You can tell she’s thinking, what’s wrong with these people? Even better is the fact that the pilgrims filthy feet are all up it in your face. We liked it so much we sneezed really loudly and wet ourselves a little bit, and because a Mass was on while we were visiting, the whole situation was so funny we got the church giggles and had to exit, quickly, stage left.
Of course we’re not only here for the art. We’re also enjoying the street fashion. Roman men who work in some professional capacity are always very well dressed. They’re all wearing peg-legged pants and tailored jackets that somehow manage to make every one of them look totally pulled together. I guess it helps that, thanks to all the smoking, none of them sport the Ralph Kramden.
Spotted across the street from the Sant’Eustachio Cafe, our favorite was this fellow. Although his facial trim is technically the “mutton chops”, he’s so young we dubbed him “lamb chops” instead.
As for the ladies, well, what can we say? The 80s are back in full-swing and that’s not a good thing. There are a lot of leggings and oversized t-shirts. There’s studded leather. There are cavernous bags and slouchy flat booties. There are diaphanous scarves and suspenders. And beloved in Italy, there’s the bedazzled t-shirt. In other words, too much muchness.
One thing we do like, and we might just have to have before we leave, is the low-heeled, slightly baggy motorcycle or riding boot. Although it is unseasonably hot, wet and sticky here, all the ladies are wearing these right now.
