My favourite painting

Caravaggio. The Beheading of St. John the Baptist. 1607-1608. Oil on canvas. Co-Cathedral of St. John, Valletta, Malta

I have had an abiding interest in visual art since my days studying Architecture. Indeed one of my enduring bittersweet moments was, after I split up with my first true love, coming over to London on my own for my 23rd birthday and being thrilled both by the Dali Exhibition at the Royal Academy and the exhibition on the great architect Edwin Lutyens at the South Bank. Surrounded by beauty and feelings of loneliness exacerbated by the strange feeling of not having a real conversation with anybody for four days. My artistic taste rails against the figurative; I never wanted art to be an undemanding mirror which reflects the world back at you. And my personal instincts are anti-religious; I firmly believe Man created God.

Surprising then that my favourite painting is both figurative and with a religious theme but this is no ordinary painting and is by no ordinary artist and it cannot be seen in any art gallery. It is "The Beheading of St. John the Baptist" and the artist is that genius of light and shade (chiaroscuro) Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio. His life was short, turbulent and violent and to see his greatest painting you have to travel to the Island of The Knight’s of St. John, to Malta. There you enter into the walled city of Valletta, a UNESCO World Heritage site which is the greatest fortified Medieval City in the world and the spiritual home of The Sovereign Military Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta.




Tomb of Knight Gregory Spinola 1682, Co-Cathedral of St. John, Valletta

Here is the Co-Cathedral of St. John, Valletta and you enter into the world of the Knight’s of St. John, an interior of amazing richness and you walk on a hallowed floor of lavish inlaid marble tombstones of Noble Knights who here in 1565 and in the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571 defeated the forces of Suleiman the Magnificent and stopped the Mediterranean becoming a Muslim sea and Europe becoming a Muslim Province. To this day in Malta when they celebrate “Victory Day” it is this victory they remember. Afterwards in gratitude Catholic Europe poured money into Malta and the Knight’s built their great city of Valletta opposite the “Three Cities” on the far side of The Grand Harbour which had withstood the siege of Malta.




Co-Cathedral of St. John, Valletta

So in this hallowed space you then enter the vestry of the Cathedral and there you are stunned to silence by this, Caravaggio’s greatest work in the setting for which it was painted. You stare at this huge painting and you realise the artist’s genius as the painting is mis-titled. For what you are witnessing is not a beheading but the aftermath, when the executioner calmly and callously takes his knife to perform a butcher’s task, the severing of the neck sinews. There is not a religious symbol in sight but what there is like a Joycean text is a picture of mundanity and sparse detail, for the person being so callously butchered in front of the indifferent onlookers is no ordinary, person. For this is the patron after whom the Knight’s Order is named, John the Baptist who in the River Jordan baptised and had as a follower and disciple one Jesus of Nazareth. But there is no sentimentality in this picture, just the confident genius to picture this shocking event with sparse detail and no displays of reverence. It could be a sheep’s head being butchered and it is this scrupulous meanness of depiction which heightens the sense of man’s inhumanity to man. No longer concerned with the incidentals of the narrative, Caravaggio focuses on the essential human tragedy of the story. By presenting the opposite of the Christian message so graphically it emphasises the radical message of its founder, the disciple of John the Baptist. This picture was of huge symbolic importance to the Order of St. John whose most important relic was the arm of St. John, the arm which baptised Jesus.



This picture is the altar piece of the Oratory and was commissioned by Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt. It is the largest painting produced by the artist (12 feet x 17 feet) and the only one known to be signed. This painting is described as his all-time masterpiece. The painting depicts the moment in Biblical history where St John is beheaded by King Herod to satisfy the blood lust of the seductive dancer, Salome. The scene is the courtyard of a prison and the grisly murder is observed by two other prisoners looking through a grille, while a young woman and an old crone stand ready to take the severed head and put it on the waiting platter. The blood flowing from St John's neck drips towards the bottom of the frame and in its red stream, Caravaggio signed his name.


Michelangelo Merisi, Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi was born in the town of Caravaggio (about 30 kilometres from Milan) in 1571. Caravaggio was, in fact, the first great representative of the Baroque movement. He was the archetypal rebellious artist and led a turbulent life. His life, it is said, matched the high-drama of the chiaroscuro style that his paintings became famous for.

In 1606 whilst working in Rome, one of his many brawls resulted in Caravaggio killing a young man called Ranuccio Tomassoni. With a price on his head, Caravaggio fled and headed for Naples where he would be outside the Roman jurisdiction and under the protection of the Colonna family. After just a few months, despite a successful period in Naples where he was given a number of important church commissions, Caravaggio left for Malta, the headquarters of the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, arriving on the island in July 1607.

Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt invested Caravaggio as a knight of magistral obedience so taken was he at having an artist of such calibre as official painter of the Order. It was during this time that Caravaggio was commissioned to paint ‘The Beheading of St John the Baptist’ and ‘St Jerome Writing’, both of which are on display in St John’s Co-Cathedral.


Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt

This period of relative calm in his life was short lived, and by late August 1608, Caravaggio was arrested for causing trouble once again, this time badly wounding a high ranking Knight in another fight. Imprisoned at Fort St Angelo, disgraced and unable to paint, he used his inventive powers to plan his escape. Caravaggio’s incredible break-out took place in October 1608 and once again he was on the run. The Council, informed of his escape, immediately expelled him from the Order.


St John’s Co-Cathedral


After a nine month stay in Sicily, during which time he was trying to secure a pardon from Pope Paul V, Caravaggio returned to Naples and the protection of the Colonna family. His style and technique as an artist was still evolving and he enjoyed a productive time in his second spell in Naples. An attempt was made on his life, and an incorrect account of his death was reported in Rome. Although Caravaggio survived the attempt, his face was left seriously disfigured.


'Salome with the Head of John the Baptist',Caravaggio depicted his own head on the platter

In an attempt to build bridges, Caravaggio painted 'Salome with the Head of John the Baptist'. He depicted his own head on the platter and sent the work to de Wignacourt as a plea for forgiveness. In 1610, Caravaggio took a boat north to receive a pardon, thanks to powerful allies in Rome. What happened then is shrouded in mystery. The artist was reported as dead in a private newsletter (an avviso) dated 28th July. Three days later, another newsletter declared that the artist had died of fever. His body, however, was never found.

This picture of ‘St Jerome Writing’ looks upon “The Beheading of St John the Baptist” from the back of the vestry. It was painted for Ippolito Malaspina, a Maltese knight whose coat of arms is on the wooden panel to the right. He was connected by marriage to Caravaggio's patron Ottavio Costa and was a confidant of the Grand Master, who may have been used as the model for the saint (similarly Van Dyck was to use the sister of the Queen of England as model for the Madonna). The saint does indeed look like the knight in a recently discovered portrait by Caravaggio, who has been identified by some as Wignacourt himself.


St Jerome Writing, Caravaggio 1607

The composition is planned in terms of triangles. One rises from the table to the saint's head, another has its apex at the cardinal's hat on the wall to the left, a third recedes to the bedstead at the back on the right. This simple design helps convey an idea of simplicity. St Jerome has no halo, his workbench is rudimentary, he does not own any folios, he has one candle to see by, a crucifix to meditate on, a stone to beat against his chest, and a skull to remind him of his mortality. He is partly naked because he lives an eremitical life in the desert of Judaea. A steady light shines on his torso and picks out the red cloak round his legs. The source of the light is outside the picture, and can be interpreted as Christ, Light of the World.


Caravaggio's signature on the "Beheading of St. John the Baptist" before and after restoration. It is the only painting he ever signed


Awe is an expression too often used and consequently devalued. But it is an apt word to describe the effect of seeing Caravaggio’s great masterpiece, a painting which fills your mind as effectively as its huge size fills the end wall of the vestry church. A splendored setting filled with the spirits and bodies of the knights. In this context and watched over by St. Jerome “The Beheading of St. John the Baptist” will reduce you to silence and wonder. Travel to see it, its scale and impact can never be represented in a photo.

For the story of The Sovereign Military Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/knights-of-malta.html


For the story of the UNESCO Heritage site which is Valletta see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/05/valletta-and-grand-harbour.html

To see the city (also a UNESCO World Heritage site) which the Knights left on 1st January 1523 when defeated by Suleiman the Magnificent see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/03/rhodes-town.html




Valletta

Compton Verney, Warwickshire

For many years in England the only form of a gamble which didn’t involve going to a Betting Shop was the Football Pools where you had to predict the outcome of football matches. The main pools company was Littlewoods owned by the Moore’s family from Liverpool. The family have largely retired from business using their large cash pile for philanthropy. They endow and support John Moores University and today I was heading up the M40 Motorway to one of my favourite parts of England, South Warwickshire to see another fruit of the family’s philanthropy, Compton Verney Art Gallery.

The Verney in the title refers to the same family which own Claydon House (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/claydon-house-buckinghamshire.html ) and like many landowners they were attracted to the rich rolling landscape of North Oxfordshire and South Warwickshire which was rich farming country. Many tourists pass through this area on their way to Stratford on Avon to “do Shakespeare” oblivious to the many attractions of this charming area with a number of fine country houses such as Farnborough Hall (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/search/label/Farnborough%20Hall ), Charlecote Park and Upton House (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/09/upton-house-oxfordshire.html ). As we turned off the M40 at J12 we went through Gaydon and another characteristic of the area became apparent for we passed in quick succession the Motor Heritage Centre, and then the headquarters of Jaguar / Land Rover and beyond them the sports car manufacturer Aston Martin. For Coventry, the county town of Warwickshire was the car manufacturing capital of England and the wealth created often was spent on substantial Country Seats. But Compton Verney is not marketed as a heritage property for it was virtually derelict when the Moores Foundation bought it with the express purpose of creating an Art Gallery and Collection. So they spent 10 years renovating the property and building a well crafted modern extension at the rear. This is a gallery of the highest standard with curatorial staff and a resource centre attached which means it can host major touring exhibitions. Anticipation was high as we went up the driveway which was designed to impress with Capability Brown grounds and a decorative bridge on an ornamental lake on the approach.


Sir Peter Moores

Compton Verney is a Grade 1 listed mansion house designed in the 1760s by Robert Adam. It is set in more than 120 acres of classical parkland which was landscaped by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown between 1769 and 1772. The estate was bought in 1993 by the Peter Moores Foundation when the house and grounds were in a state of decay. The Compton Verney House Trust was established to transform the mansion into an art gallery. Compton Verney is an award winning art gallery in Warwickshire which offers a unique opportunity to view art in the setting of a Grade 1 listed Robert Adam mansion located in 120 acres of spectacular parkland. Compton Verney houses six permanent collections and has a programme of exhibitions.





Until the early 20th century Compton Verney was home to the Verney or ‘Willoughby de Broke’ family for almost 500 years. It has now been transformed from a derelict eighteenth-century Robert Adam mansion into a gallery of international standing, offering a combination of high quality attractions and facilities. The project took ten years to complete and over twenty gallery spaces have been created. Compton Verney is unique in that it is a place where art, architecture, landscape and learning fuse, to offer the visitor an experience that is completely integrated and accessible.

This classic Grade II listed landscape, with trademark Cedars of Lebanon, is viewed from the B4086 Bridge over the Compton Pools. The bridge, like the house, is the work of Robert Adam.



The Robert Adam mansion house and group of service buildings have been conserved and extended using contemporary architecture and design, and this transformation has been led by two architects, Stanton Williams and Leamington-based Rodney Melville & Partners. The sensitive combination of new and restored Grade 1 listed buildings and spaces have been realised in construction and craftsmanship of outstanding quality. Attention to detail on the use of appropriate materials, natural lighting and works of art on open display, compliment the collections and the site itself. The qualities of the materials chosen; handmade bricks, hand-tooled stone, glass and steel, reflect the spirit of the original buildings, while bringing a new dynamic to the architectural composition. The buildings are linked from a single point of entry and the family of service buildings have been developed to incorporate a Learning Centre and offices.




The old and new buildings - inside and out



Compton Verney is set in more than 120 acres of Grade 2* listed classical parkland, landscaped by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, the most eminent landscape architect of the eighteenth-century. Although the original estate was split up and sold a century ago, the ‘pleasure grounds’ still clearly reflect the sweeping grassland, ornamental lakes and Cedars of Lebanon for which Brown is famous. On arrival at the site visitors pass one of the lakes and cross a bridge, designed by Robert Adam, which is now adorned by four recently recovered sphinxes.


Grave in the grounds of Geraldine Smith Barry of Fota Island, Queenstown wife of Henry Verney

In common with the house, the grounds were badly neglected during the twentieth-century and returning the Grade 2 listed landscape to its former glory requires considerable restoration, for which Compton Verney has drawn up an extensive recovery and replanting programme. In 2003 the Trust re-acquired the historic south park and is restoring wildlife habitats by replacing crops with an eighteenth-century landscape of trees and grassland.



Compton Verney houses six permanent collections, focusing on areas currently under-represented in British museums and galleries. The collections are owned by the Compton Verney Collections Settlement and continue to grow, supported by funds from the Peter Moores Foundation. The temporary exhibitions programme offers both historic and contemporary shows and is designed to appeal to a wide audience.
Compton Verney has more than 800 works of art in its permanent collections, all of which have been gifted to the Compton Verney Collection Settlement. The collection is still growing today. The sense of Sir Peter Moores’ personal involvement with Compton Verney helps to explain the highly individual nature of its collection – or rather distinct collections. On the ground floor are paintings and decorative arts relating to Naples in the 17th and 18th centuries, German paintings and sculpture of the late Middle Ages and early renaissance, and British portraits and furniture from 1550 to 1750. Upstairs is Chinese art – largely bronzes – together with galleries for temporary exhibitions, and in the attics is the country’s largest public collection of British folk art.

Naples 1600 – 1800; Compton Verney's collection of paintings from Naples represents a cross-section of masterpieces from the 'Golden Age' of Neapolitan art from 1600 to 1800 when Naples was the third largest city in Europe and the destination of the “Grand Tour”. It includes religious scenes by Bernardo Cavallino, Luca Giordano and Francesco Solimena; still-life paintings by Paolo Porpora and Giuseppe Ruoppolo; and the work of Strozzi, Bonito and Volaire. The collection has gradually grown over a number of years, and now represents the best Neapolitan artists of this period.


Lord and Lady Hamilton in Naples

Northern European 1450 – 1650 Collection; the inspiration to collect works of art from northern Europe came from Sir Peter Moores’ visits to Vienna and Germany in the 1950s. In Germany he admired the simplicity and craftsmanship of the sculptures and paintings dating from 1450 to 1600. Several of the works of art in this collection come from near Nuremberg in southern Germany, which from 1450 to 1550 was home to an important circle of artists and craftsmen, including the sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider.

The British Portraits collection includes a selection of works relating to the history of fine art and decorative art in England. Visitors to Compton Verney when it was the home of the Verney family may have seen works like these in the main rooms of the house. Portraits of familiar Tudor figures such as Henry VIII are accompanied by lesser-known figures such as the Elizabethan courtier Thomas Knyvet. There are also some significant pieces of furniture, such as a table that may have been commissioned by Queen Mary II.

The collection of Chinese bronzes at Compton Verney is one of the best in Britain outside the British Museum. The vessels were produced over a period of over 1500 years under many different Chinese rulers, and date from the early Shang Dynasty (about 1700 to 1050 BC) to the Han Dynasty (206 BC to AD 220). They were used during religious rituals and ancestor worship, and were buried in the tombs of the deceased. The collection also includes pottery pieces, such as a set of twelve painted pottery equestrian figures made for placing in a tomb to guard the deceased.


Ming cloisinee stem cup

Compton Verney has the largest collection of British folk art in the country, acquired for the gallery in 1993 to prevent it being split up and sold abroad. It is made up of a mixture of paintings and objects such as trade-signs and weathervanes. The term ‘folk art’ describes work produced by people with no formal art training – for example, some works in the collection were made by travelling salesmen such as sign-painters.


Military patchwork

The Marx-Lambert Collection is a bequest from Enid Marx, who was a graphic artist and textile designer. The items she left to Compton Verney include her own designs, and other pieces of folk or popular art that she and her friend Margaret Lambert collected, and which inspired her designs. One display which caught my eye was a “Stevengraph” - a woven picture showing a steam train inscribed Lord Howe pulling two railway carriages. It is an example of the fashion for mechanically woven ribbon pictures, known as Stevengraphs in the period 1850-1900, which was a speciality at Thomas Stevens's firm in Coventry. Ribbon weaving had been an important industry since 1800, but by 1850 the industry began to decline. Production of Stevengraphs however, continued with the introduction of new subjects and both Marx and Lambert had a number of Stevengraphs in their home. The reason it caught my eye was on the moonlit night of Thursday 14 November 1940 the old city of Coventry was destroyed and a new word was invented 'Coventration'. Over 500 German bombers massed for the biggest raid of the war to date - their target Coventry - a city at the industrial heart of Britain's war production engine. The inhabitants of Coventry sheltering from the Blitz in rudimentary air raid shelters that night included my father who as a 10 year old boy was in the cellars of the Stevengraph factory. They were moved at 3.30 am to another shelter and when the all clear was sounded in the morning they emerged to find that the Stevengraph factory and the shelter had been totally destroyed.

Stevengraph "Lord Howe pulling two railway carriages"

The touring exhibitions when we visited were Constable Portraits and Surrealism and Contemporary Art.


John Constable



John Constable (1776 - 1837) is renowned as a landscape artist, yet his portraits are rarely seen and far less well-known. Spanning thirty years and featuring over 40 works this exhibition for the first time takes the viewer deeper into Constable's landscapes, revealing the people who occupied his world. The exhibition contains paintings and drawings of his family, close friends and children, interspersed with Constable's landscape paintings of the areas surrounding his homes. The exhibition will set out to support Lucian Freud's claim that Constable was a key figure in the history of English portrait painting. For me the revelation was the closeness he maintained to family and friends and his 7 year courtship of his wife Mary who he married despite concerted opposition from her family.



The exhibition on Surrealism and Contemporary Art brought together the pioneers of Surrealism and a generation of younger artists who continue to find inspiration in the intellectual and aesthetic origins of the movement. The exhibition looks at two areas: Wandering the City and Psychic Interiors. The first of these examines the artist walking through the city as a means to discover hidden social spaces as well as unconscious fears and desires. From Brassaï's atmospheric night-time photographs of an unfamiliar Paris to George Shaw's melancholy depictions of playgrounds and the Coventry estate where he grew up, attention is drawn to the derelict, disused spaces of urban environments. Within this section, ideas of social and political exclusion, regeneration, borders, margins and journeys are explored.


Proper cakes!

The visitor facilities are like the Gallery first class. The exhibitions have full step free access throughout and are displayed to the highest standard. Each gallery has a leaflet with the details of the exhibits so you don’t cluster around labels to get the details. There are excellent toilet facilities throughout with once again top class disabled provision. The bright shop has an excellent selection of Art related merchandise and publications. The catering facilities are first class including an excellent coffee shop and an award winning restaurant. As it was a special anniversary we went for lunch there. The restaurant was bright with a compact menu featuring local seasonal produce. Like the rest of Compton Verney it was unfussy and the service was excellent. For mains I had a wonderful plate of a Pork fillet with wholegrain mustard mash, served with fresh seasonal vegetables & Hogan's cider sauce. Her indoors had a main salad of smoked trout and prawns which was served terrine like on a beetroot salsa. Both were fine plates of food where the freshness of the ingredients made for a highly satisfying experience. For puds (deserts in the rest of the world) I enjoyed my selection of local cheeses, a Berkswell sheep’s cheese, a Hereford Hop and a Sage Derby served with excellent oaten biscuits, grapes, celery sticks and apple chutney. The carrot cake was top class and the restaurant has a selection of “proper” cakes, all freshly baked on the premises. An excellent pit stop with high standards of preparation and presentation and it was obvious looking around the crowded restaurant, a loyal following of repeat customers.


Restaurant


Cheeeseboard


Pork in cider sauce with mustard mash

We didn’t know what to expect and sometimes places like these can be a rich man’s vanity project which speak more of their sense of self importance than of anything else. Well if Peter Moores is vain he carries it lightly. Rather we felt this was a place well worth visiting, high on interest and where visitors are not patronised but made welcome and treated with respect. It was noticeable the positive impression that the staff gave throughout from reception to the restaurant to the galleries that they enjoyed working here and wanted to make you welcome. So when you bought your tickets the staff member made a point of explaining the layout and where to go, the gallery staff were helpful and engaged with visitors and staffing the restaurant were helpful and engaged in conversations with the customers. Overall a very positive impression and a place well worth the trip in this interesting and somewhat overlooked corner of England’s green and pleasant land.



Opening Hours 2009
Saturday 21 March - Sunday 13 December
Tuesday - Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays
11am - 5pm

Last entry to the galleries is 1/2 hour before closing.

Compton Verney is situated 9 miles east of Stratford-upon-Avon on the B4086 between Wellesbourne and Kineton and is 6 miles drive from the M40, Junction 12 and follow brown signs. Compton Verney is a 40-minute drive from Birmingham International Airport, or 90 minutes from Heathrow.

Compton Verney
Warwickshire
CV35 9HZ



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