Caravaggio: The Calling of Saint Matthew Painting

Caravaggio: The Calling of Saint Matthew Painting

Done in oil on canvas, this work—together with two others in the same chapel—has been commented to form a series on the life and death of Saint Matthew. Caravaggio represents the moment when the future apostle and saint is accompanied by other men, counting the coins they have collected. The action is interrupted by the entrance of Christ together with Saint Peter. Christ extends his arm, pointing to Matthew, who immediately perceives the meaning of Christ's call; not so his dinner companions, among whom a surprised look is directed toward the two men entering, without understanding the meaning of the gesture, while two others remain locked in the tax-collection activity, outside the action that is being developed.

Composition and Light

Caravaggio sets the scene in an interior setting, illuminated only by a golden light that enters violently from the top right corner, emphasizing the characters. Here, dressed anachronistically in the manner of the late seventeenth century, the figures appear sculpted by the light that strikes them, creating strong contrasts of light and dark that shape their bodies. These are real people, and a psychological connection is established through hand gestures between Christ—whose gesture recalls God the Father in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel—and Saint Matthew.

Everyday Figures in a Sacred Scene

Caravaggio moves away from the formal representations previously made of sacred themes and places the scene in an interior that could pass for a tavern or a tax office. The characters are ordinary people who meet around a table to divide their gains, and only a faint halo around Christ's head indicates his divinity. A figure sits cross-legged under the table with his back to the viewer, and the sword at his belt creates diagonal lines that give movement to an otherwise static scene.

Theological Reading

Despite the everydayness used to represent the scene, a theological reading identifies the light with the entry of Christ into a place dominated by the shadows of sin. Likewise, the painter shows two different attitudes prior to the call of Christ: Matthew, who receives the call and responds to it, and those who, blinded by money and material life, ignore the call of Christ and are thereby condemned.

Reception by the Church

However, despite this interpretation of Caravaggio's work, his art was rejected by the highest ecclesiastical authorities, who considered his paintings unsuitable for devotion or prayer.