Main idea and themes of Simon Schama's Caravaggio - Essay Example

Simon Schama’s Caravaggio; main idea and themes This short video is based on artist Michelangelo Merisi di Caravaggio’s life in art. It addresses the new life that this artist took after killing a man in 1606, after they were involved in a duel. The main idea of this video is to reveal the ability of art to influence not only an artist as an individual, but an entire community at large. Caravaggio sought mercy from Roman authorities by recreating David the Head of Goliath and replacing Goliath’s head with his, to symbolize his remorse.

Society was influenced by art in that artists captured real life scenes and that it was possible to manipulate people through paintings. One of the themes represented is breaching of Renaissance art. Caravaggio went against the rules of Renaissance that is sticking to religious subjects, capturing reality, and depicting mythology in most of their work. He settled for his own style of art; capturing what he saw in real time, and translating it directly onto canvas. The other theme of the video is the use of paintings in the Roman Catholic Church.

The [Catholic] church used paintings to seduce people, or “win souls”. The paintings depicted Christian themes of the Virgin and baby Jesus, and were used to decorate churches. The final theme appearing in the video is the standoff that existed between the Roman Catholic Church and the emerging Protestant Christians. The Protestants were advocating for the destruction of all catholic paintings saying that the Bible is what should guide a Christian, and not paintings. Additionally, the Protestants were attacking the Catholic’s obsession with painting, terming it as idolatry and a misguided worship.

Works CitedWebb, David. “Simon Schama’s Caravaggio_1 of 4”, YouTube, 2011. Video.