Michelangelo Merisi De Caravaggio lived in a time over 200 years before Francisco Goya. Yet it is clear to see the resemblance in their artworks. In Caravaggio's artwork Judith Beheading Holofernes and in Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son both artist find a way to manipulate light and shadow, creating a melancholy and disturbing emotion within their compositions. Caravaggio was part of the Baroque Period while Francisco Goya found himself amongst the Romanticism Period. Regardless of the vast time period between them both artist find a way to grab the viewer and not only capture their eye but instill a discomfort within them, taking them in to a darker world, and a darker concept within both compositions.
Within Goya's painting there is an oddly shaped male figure representation of Saturn eating a tiny child. The negative space is filled with a darkened and distorted background. While the figure is covered in a wide range of highlights and shadows, and even more so the paleness of the smallest human figure, both, give a deep range of texture between the subjects. You see Saturn gigantic over his oddly small-sized child creating emphasis on these figures. Saturn towers over his child as he is deep in the throws of a full body consumption of the child. As if Saturn has been starving and crazed like an animal devouring its prey.
Although within the eyes of Saturn you see the figure staring out at the audience. It is as if the viewer has caught the subject committing a sin. Or has been invaded during the actions of some deep dark secret, Saturn possibly even could be displaying a look of feeling tortured or saddened by its own actions. The movement within the subject is just as haunting as the weight hanging off of the partly consumed corpse; as if one could imagine its lifeless limbs just dangling. It is the use of value, texture, movement, emphasis, and proportion methods that Caravaggio used many years earlier; only to convey a different concept yet still invoking a deep range of emotion within a composition.
Now to go back to Caravaggio, in his painting Judith Beheading Holofernes there is a realistic scene of murder, a young woman, Judith, beheading a man, Holofernes, while another older female watches in anticipation. Here we set the background nearly covered in black with only a darkened red drapery displaying texture in the background. The use of value within the highlights and shadows across all 3 figures creates not only texture, but also movement and emphasis. There is a great detail of highlights upon the skin of the youngest woman, almost giving the subject a glow in contrast to the dark background. There is implied movement within the male figure as if the woman is severely stronger than him and easily ended his life. Both women have this aura as if they have been planning this and were satisfied with their decision. The elderly woman looks upon the male figure with angst, while Judith seems swift and calm within her movements. Creating a concept of darkness, murder, passion, and secrecy. The image creates a very angry, violent, and uncomfortable feeling within its viewers much like what is seen within Goya's work many years later.
These types of artworks are normally defined as macabre art. For their dark imagery and infliction of pain or death. Both works display acts of murder and a dark form of emotion. Within Goya's murder scene again it is as if Saturn has been caught, giving an emotion of impulse, a lack of control for it's blood thirst.
It shows an aggressive form of not only the loss of life, but the action of cannibalism upon a child. While in Caravaggio's artwork we see murder in a different light. We see Judith overcoming Holofernes and in a swift cunning moment slicing this throat open with ease, and without help from her accomplice. You see the thought out moment of the women catching the man in a relaxed state, and surprising him with a struggle of which he cannot defend himself. These actions display a lack of control within the man, giving the women the upper hand and strength within the composition. While also creating an uneasy feeling in the audience as we see the women very calmly committing this act of aggressive murder, as if unphased by their actions.
Caravaggio depicts a biblical scene of Judith and Holofernes. Judith has seduced Holofernes and gotten him drunk only to slice his throat open. Judith becomes the representation of the Jewish people, as she is there to murder the General fighting against Israel. So in an act of justice she kills the general leading an army against them. It is in Goya's painting that we see the mythical Saturn, the god of time, devouring his son. It is said that he ate his sons to preserve himself so that his children could not overthrow him. Both scenes depict the gaining and loss of power from both genders. Both subjects in each composition take a life to preserve their own, in any way possible. In this case using violence to overthrow their opponents by killing them.
Even without vivid context of the subjects the audience is still able to make out the intentions of each artist. In both macabre paintings the scenes depicted fill its viewers with a complex feeling of treachery and death. One is almost compelled to turn away from the violence but the great use of details in the principles and elements keeps the viewer analyzing and deep in thought over the actions of each composition. Showing impulse and emotion of the human character. Delivering a range of complexity and thought throughout a lifeless painting. It becomes overly successful in showing a true dark nature within humanity and within religion.
