The Church

Caravaggio and the Contarelli Chapel

The church was completed in 1589 thanks to the financial support of Cardinal Mathieu Cointerel, Henry II, Henry III and Catherine de’ Medici, but the interior decoration was not completed until 1764, after many architectural changes. The decoration of the fifth chapel in the left aisle, known as the Contarelli Chapel, experienced many twists and turns before it became home to Caravaggio’s famous paintings. In 1599, the Congregation of St. Louis realized that the work had not been completed (so much so that the frescoes on the side walls by Cavalier d’Arpino were unfinished), so they called upon the young Caravaggio to finish the work. Caravaggio subsequently executed the three famous paintings The Calling of St. Matthew, The Martyrdom of St. Matthew and St. Matthew and the Angel. The year 1599 undoubtedly marked a turning point in Caravaggio’s painting technique, which turned towards a sacred painting in which emotion and narrative were mixed. Few artists have aroused so much interest and revolutionised the history of art as the Lombard painter Caravaggio. The absolute novelties introduced by Caravaggio in painting are the study of truth, against all academic rules, and the violent use of light as a metaphor for divine grace. The Lombard painter’s light pierces the darkness and suddenly reaches people. These innovations are two sides of the same coin. Caravaggio, in line with the philosophical and scientific thought of the time, seems to want to tell us that only through reality can one reach divinity. This is why his works, despite their revolutionary character and break with the past, have a profoundly religious content.