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Caravaggio
b.1571
Milan, Italy

Bill Henson
b. 1955
Melbourne, Australia


Comparison
:
Caravaggio
and
Bill Henson

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Terms:
Chiaroscuro: Italian for light-dark refers to the contrast of light
and dark to make forms look three dimensional
Backlighting: light coming from behind the subject
alla prima: Italian for the first time or all at once; a method of
painting in which the picture is completed in one sitting

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Art-iculate Comparison
Amor Vincit Omnia by the Baroque artist Caravaggio and
Untitled #8 by contemporary photographer Bill Henson can be
compared on a number of levels.

In both, the subject matter is the naked figure of a male youth. Both
use extreme light and shade to suggest aspects of the human
condition, but unlike the animated figure in Caravaggios painting,
Hensons photograph hints at vulnerability and fragility.

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Caravaggio and Henson -
Recap
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By all accounts, Caravaggio (1571
1610) was a volatile and violent man.
He led a life marked by murder and exile
and died before he was 40. Given these
experiences, he painted many scenes of
struggle, torture and death in his
relatively short career.

He was born at a time when the classical
idealism of Michelangelo was
considered the height of beauty.

Like Michelangelo, he painted from
life, but his models were ordinary
people, including street children and
prostitutes; and, in his religious
paintings, they did not look particularly
holy. This was controversial while it
was easier for ordinary people to
identify with the characters in his
religious stories, many of his patrons
thought his figures were vulgar and
some refused to accept and pay for
his work.

Caravaggio, Amor Vincit
Omnia, 160102, oil on
canvas, 191 x 148cm,
Gemldegalerie, Berlin

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Amor Vincit Omnia was inspired
by a line from the Roman poet
Virgil, Love conquers all: let us
yield to love! and was a common
theme at the time.

In the painting, we see the young
god Amor, known to the ancient
Romans as Cupid, spot lit against a
dark and poorly defined
background. On his back is a pair of
powerful eagles wings and at his
feet are symbols of war, music and
learning. The young figure was
painted from a model and reflects
the artists acute observation of
reality.

Amor makes eye contact with the
viewer and his cheeky grin is
endearing.

Caravaggio, Amor Vincit
Omnia, 160102, oil on
canvas, 191 x 148cm,
Gemldegalerie, Berlin

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Melbourne Photographer Bill
Henson (born 1955) also works
with live models.
The subject in Untitled #8 is an
adolescent male, no longer a
child, not yet an adult, and unlike
Amor, he avoids our gaze. He
remains anonymous and is
indifferent to the camera, lost in
his own private thoughts.
This quality of separateness
enhances the tenderness and
mystery of the image and
increases the vulnerability of the
figure.
We, the viewers are voyeurs,
unseen observers.

Bill Henson, Untitled #8, 2007
08, Type C photograph, 127 x
180cm. Courtesy of the artist and
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
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Comparison
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Both Caravaggio and Henson use light as a powerful tool in
their artworks.

Caravaggios paintings are known for their chiaroscuro. He used it
not only to suggest three-dimensional form, but also to heighten the
sense of drama by deepening the shadows and increasing the
strength of the light. The figure of Amor is posed and appears to be
illuminated by a spotlight.


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Henson uses light in a similar way in Untitled #8.

The figure emerges from the rich black darkness outlined by
backlighting. Both time and space seem ambiguous; he appears to
be in a twilight zone between waking and sleep. Hensons long
exposures create finely focused photographs and enhance their
dreamlike melancholy. His large format images are painstakingly
produced in the darkroom.

The name Untitled hints at the fact that Henson wants to leave the
meaning of the image open for the viewer. In the absence of a
narrative, we are forced to use our imagination to interpret the
ambiguous, moody, casual drama.

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Caravaggios painting technique, on the other hand, was
characterised by immediacy.
He worked alla prima, straight onto the canvas, sometimes
scratching the lines of the composition directly onto the canvas with
the handle of the brush.
He generally finished each work in one sitting, without the
preliminary drawings that, at the time, were thought to be essential.
Both artworks are large and the artists have used a restricted
palette.
The portrait format of Amor Vincit Omina echoes the verticality of
the figure and contains clues about the story told through
symbolism, while the horizontal format of Untitled #8 forces us to
think about the empty space that surrounds the model.

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The explicit nakedness of the young Amor in Amor Vincit
Omnia and the suggested nakedness of Hensons figure in
Untitled #8 confront the viewer when the works are first seen.
It has been said, but remains disputed, that Amor Vincit Omina
was kept behind a curtain by its owner and only revealed to a
select few men.
In a similar way, the use of young naked models has lead to
controversy around Hensons photographs.