Cecco del Caravaggio

All the versions of this article: English , français

Bergamo, Accademia Carrara, from 28 January to 4 June 2023.

The Batistello Caracciolo exhibition in Naples last year, which we were lucky enough to see but did not write about, Theodoor Rombouts in Ghent (see article), soon Finson in Marseilles, which we are impatiently awaiting, and now Cecco del Caravaggio... In recent years, Caravaggio’s work has been the subject of numerous retrospectives, which have helped to clarify a subject that is still so complex, given the large number of artists and the no less important quantity of anonymous paintings or disputed attributions. Among the most active art historians, who are helping to make the Caravaggio nebula more understandable, is undoubtedly Gianni Papi. Although he is famous for his brilliant rendering of the works of the Master of the Judgement of Solomon to Ribera, many painters have benefited from his research, and thanks to him another has found his name: Cecco del Caravaggio, who is now known and widely recognised to be Francesco Boneri.


1. View of a room in the Cecco del Caravaggio exhibition ;
on the left The Decollation of Saint John the Baptiste in private collection ; Crucifix (ill. 13) and Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple (ill. 12)
Photo : Didier Rykner
See the image in its page

In the past, this nickname was explained by the fact that he was a painter "blinded" ("cecco" meaning "blind") by the manner of Caravaggio. While Francesco Boneri’s Caravaggism is obvious, Cecco was in fact the diminutive of Francesco. He was therefore "Caravaggio’s Francesco", not only because he entered his studio at a very young age, but also because he was his lover there, as Papi deduced from the archives of the time, a point that hardly seems debatable. Nor is the hypothesis that Francesco’s figure is the one seen in many of the master’s paintings: perhaps as early as The Martyrdom of St. Matthew, where he would be the child fleeing in terror to the right, to the David in David Holding the Head of Goliath (Goliath being Caravaggio himself) in the Galleria Borghese, to the Cupid in Love Conqueror in Berlin.


2. View of a room in the Cecco del Caravaggio exhibition
From left to right Woman with a Dove, Man with a Rabbit (spanish royal collections), Saint Francis in Prayer from a private collection and the same subject by a painter close to Cecco del Caravaggio, from Galleria Estense
Photo : Didier Rykner
See the image in its page

A painter whose figure we would therefore know very early on, right up to his self-portrait in the exhibition, around 1620, the year in which he disappeared from the radar and archives, perhaps because he died, or went to Spain, or returned to his native Bergamo, all of these possibilities being explored by Gianni Papi in his excellent introductory essay.
But a painter we know very little about: we do not know when he died, nor do we know when he was born, perhaps in 1586 or 1587. If his Bergamasque origin, which was discussed for a long time (he was mistaken for a Fleming or a Frenchman, sometimes for a Spaniard), now seems to be accepted - again thanks to the work of Gianni Papi - many things still remain in the realm of hypothesis.


3. Bartolomeo Manfredi (1582-1622)
Portrait of Two Friends (Selfportrait with Cecco del Caravaggio ?)
Oil on canvas - 98.5 x 110.5 cm
Private collection
Photo : Didier Rykner
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4. Antiveduto Gramatica (1569-1626)
Concert with Four Musicians
Oil on canvas - 129 x 155 cm
Private collection
Photo : Didier Rykner
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What remains is his work, patiently reconstructed, and which appears, in this retrospective where nothing is useless, as very coherent. The exhibition shows, alongside his own pictures, the paintings of artists who had an impact on him: Caravaggio with the David holding the head of Goliath mentioned above [1], but also Savoldo, whose influence would have been prevalent on the artist.
We also see paintings by his companions, in close proximity to Caravaggio: Bartolomeo Manfredi, author of a double portrait based on Cecco’s self-portrait, perhaps after the latter’s death (ill. 3), Antiveduto Gramatica (ill. 4), Spadarino, or among the foreigners Louis Finson, with whom he rubbed elbows in Naples, where he probably visited with Caravaggio himself.


5. Juan Bautista Maíno (1581-1649)
Saint Matthieu and the Angel
Oil on canvas - 124 x 89 cm
Paris, Galerie Sarti
Photo : Didier Rykner
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6. Valentin de Boulogne (1591-1632)
The Death of Hyacinth
Oil on canvas - 132 x 91.2 cm
Cherbourg, Musée Thomas Henry
Photo : Didier Rykner
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In Rome, he probably frequented Juan Bautista Maino (ill. 5), the Spanish painter with whom his works have a definite connection. Finally, his influence on many artists is also evoked with paintings by Valentin de Boulogne (ill. 6), the monogrammist RG (an artist we discover on this occasion - ill. 7), Pedro Núñez del Valle (again a Spaniard - ill. 8), the Fleming Gérard Douffet or Bartolomeo Mendozzi, another anonymous Caravaggio known as the Master of the Incredulity of Saint Thomas, who has now found his identity.


7. Monogrammist RG
Musician Tuning his Guitar
Oil on canvas - 132.5 x 96 cm
BPER Banca Collection
Photo : Didier Rykner
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8. Pedro Nuñez del Valle (c. 1590-1654/57)
The Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia
Oil on canvas - 158.5 x 123 cm
Aix-en-Provence, Musée Granet
Photo : Didier Rykner
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But all these works, many of which have rarely been exhibited, should not obscure what is the focus of the exhibition, namely those by Cecco del Caravaggio himself. One of them is included in the catalogue but could not make it. It is kept at the Art Institute of Chicago and measures almost 3.40 m high and 2 m wide. It is therefore understandable, even if regrettable: this Resurrection of Christ (ill. 9) is an absolute masterpiece, returned to the artist by Longhi, and which Papi explains served as a cornerstone for the reconstruction of his work. Everything about this painting is admirable, from the skilful composition to the individual treatment of the figures, from the use of light to the subtlety of the colours. It is understandable that the art historian wanted to include it in the catalogue, even though he was unable to obtain it for the exhibition.


9. Francesco Boneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio (1586/87-after 1620)
Resurrection of Christ
Oil on canvas - 339 x 199.5 cm
Chicago, Art Institute
Photo : Didier Rykner
See the image in its page
10. Francesco Boneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio (1586/87-after 1620)
The Guardian Angel with Saint Ursula and Saint Thomas (?)
Oil on canvas - 212.7 x 106.7 cm
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
Photo : Didier Rykner
See the image in its page

Nevertheless, we can console ourselves with a large number of first-rate paintings, such as The Guardian Angel with St Thomas and St Ursula (ill. 10), probably part of a dismembered triptych, a work foolishly sold by the Kansas City museum and wisely recovered by the Prado, The Ascent to Calvary, a remarkable and rarely seen canvas as it is kept in Bratislava (ill. 11) or the formidable Christ Driving the Merchants from the Temple (ill. 12) from Berlin, a dynamic painting that seems to tilt to the left with all the figures.


11. Francesco Boneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio (1586/87-after 1620)
The Ascent to Calvary
Oil on canvas - 98 x 130 cm
Bratislava, Slovak National Gallery
Photo : Didier Rykner
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12. Francesco Boneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio (1586/87-after 1620)
Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple
Oil on canvas - 129.5 x 174 cm
Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
Photo : Didier Rykner
See the image in its page

In the same room (ill. 1) as the Christ chasing the merchants out of the temple one can admire, in a showcase, a little gem, which demonstrates that the painter is capable of the best in the small as well as in the very large. It is a painted crucifix (ill. 13) (on both sides, the wood painted in trompe l’oeil and the reverse showing a still life of the instruments of the Passion - ill. 14), owned by the Galería Caylus in Madrid (and therefore on the art market), which would be a good purchase for any museum of ancient art. The treatment of the elongated body still shows a quasi-Mannerist influence, with strong Iberian overtones.


13. Francesco Boneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio (1586/87-after 1620)
Crucifix
Oil on panel - 58 x 39 cm
Madrid, Galería Caylus
Photo : Didier Rykner
See the image in its page
14. Francesco Boneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio (1586/87-after 1620)
Crucifix (detail of the instruments of the Passion)
Oil on panel - 58 x 39 cm
Madrid, Galería Caylus
Photo : Didier Rykner
See the image in its page

In his note, as he does several times in the catalogue, Gianni Papi mentions a painting, Love at the Fountain from a private collection, where there is also a trompe l’oeil painted part. This painting is unfortunately absent from the exhibition and the catalogue does not give any reproduction of it, without explanation. One imagines that the collector would have refused, but as the work is by an artist in the public domain, so is the reproduction, and it can be found on Wikipedia, even if the photo is of poor quality. It shows how the artist reuses a figure: in this case Love - of which another, truncated version is on display - which in another painting becomes a Saint John the Baptist (ill. 15).


15. Francesco Boneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio (1586/87-after 1620)
Saint John the Baptist at the Fountain
Oil on canvas - 80 x 55 cm
Venise, Pizzi Collection
Photo : Didier Rykner
See the image in its page
16. Francesco Boneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio (1586/87-after 1620)
Saint Laurent
Oil on canvas - 143 x 95 cm
Rome, Santa Maria in Vallicella
Photo : Didier Rykner
See the image in its page

Let us reproduce two more of Boneri’s very fine paintings. Firstly, the Saint Laurent from the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella in Rome (ill. 16), whose proximity to certain works by Charles Mellin seems striking to us but is not mentioned in the catalogue. Although the possibility of the latter’s influence on Boneri seems unlikely (he is at least ten years his senior), perhaps the reverse is possible.
As for the Flûtiste in the Oxford Ashmolean (ill. 17), it is one of Cecco del Caravaggio’s best-known paintings, given to the artist at an early date by Roberto Longhi. Like the previous one, it is characterised by the presence in the foreground of an important still life, which suggests that the painter most probably produced pictures of this kind, even though none is known today. This aspect of his art is discussed at length in the catalogue, which allows it to put forward the hypothesis that he had a profound influence on Evaristo Baschenis, whose a painting closes the exhibition (ill. 18), thus reinforcing the hypothesis of a Bergamo origin for Francesco Boneri, one of the possible theories on the end of his life being that he returned to that region.


17. Francesco Boneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio (1586/87-after 1620)
The Luth Player
Oil on canvas - 103 x 138 cm
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum
Photo : Didier Rykner
See the image in its page
18. Evaristo Baschenis (1617-1677)
Still Life of Musical Instruments
Oil on canvas - 115 x 163 cm
Private collection
Photo : Didier Rykner
See the image in its page

This retrospective, as you will have understood, is therefore remarkable and a must-see if you have the opportunity to travel to Lombardy. The only regret concerns the catalogue, which is very good by the way, but which like all Italian catalogues or almost omits the mentions that seem to us to be essential for each work exhibited: their history and bibliography.

Curator: Gianni Papi.


Under the direction of Gianni Papi, Cecco del Caravaggio. L’allievo modello, 2023, Skira, 256 p., €35. ISBN: 9788857249384.


Practical information:Accademia Carrara, Piazza Giacomo Carrara, 82 24124 - Bergamo. Tel: +39 035 234396. Open daily, 9am to 7pm on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 9am to 1pm on Tuesday, and 9am to 8pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Price: €15; reduced rates: €5, €10 or €13. Website.

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