Narcissus Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610)

Description of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s Narcissus

Caravaggio’s real name was Michelangelo Merisi. He got his nickname from the place where he was born, Caravaggio, near Milan. He worked as a bricklayer, but his love of creativity, art, attracted him. He learned his art from the people who painted the frescoes, helping them mix the paints. Since he is self-taught, the artist does not know the styles, and creates his own, no one previously discovered style. His energy for life is also outstanding in his paintings.

At the time, the erotic poem "Adonis" went from hand to hand, when the restless artist became acquainted with it, he decided to portray this young man. He bends over a stream to drink water, seeing his reflection he falls in love with himself with such force that he loses interest in all his surroundings. He looks at his reflection with amazement, as if seeing it for the first time, he is fascinated and amazed.

This feeling brings him neither happiness nor a sense of contentment. According to legend, after his death, the young man is reincarnated into a delicate flower named after him. Thus he was avenged by a woman who became unhappy with unrequited love, who begged the goddess Nemesis to punish the proud man.

Caravaggio, in his painting, divides the world into two parts, the real and the mirror, which helps to understand and see all the things that surround us. Looking at events, as usual, we don’t notice much that becomes visible upside down. It is this kind of look that helps to see and understand some of the features of things more deeply.

The artist shows the tension of the hero, his inner dissatisfaction with the state of affairs. The main merit of the painting is in the contemplation of the inverted position, which appears to put everything in its place, in the relationship between the creator and his creation. This work shows the artist’s non-traditional view of the real state of affairs.