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Maart 2013: jaargang 10, nommer 1 - LitNet

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<strong>LitNet</strong> Akademies Jaargang <strong>10</strong> (1), <strong>Maart</strong> <strong>2013</strong><br />

According to Bonsanti (1984:50) the painting also engages the viewer on a very intimate<br />

spiritual level:<br />

A precise equilibrium governs the composition. The physical weight of the body<br />

becomes the moral weight of the world’s grief. The figure on the right,<br />

Nicodemus, turns toward the observer to establish a psychological bond that is<br />

also a specific reference: the scene is viewed as from the tomb; the impression is<br />

almost as if the figures are about to surrender the body of Christ, if not to the<br />

observer, at least to someone standing in the same place. The identification is<br />

therefore complete, the involvement inescapable.<br />

The Madonna of Loreto<br />

Graham-Dixon (20<strong>10</strong>:290–1) emphasises the accessibility and simple, yet powerful message<br />

of the scene: “The work is a tour de force of naked religious populism: spare to the point of<br />

banality, blatant in its appeal to the masses. [...] Once again, Caravaggio had painted a<br />

monumental altarpiece aimed squarely at the poor and the hungry.”<br />

The Madonna of the Palafrenieri<br />

Graham-Dickson (20<strong>10</strong>:305) considers this painting to be a confrontation with pure evil: the<br />

Madonna and the infant Jesus smashing the head of the snake under their feet. The holy<br />

Anna, fragile because of her age, looks on pensively.<br />

Graham-Dixon (20<strong>10</strong>:6, 31) describes this as “captivating realism” and “unprecedentedly<br />

stark and vivid naturalism”. Chilvers (2009:435) refers to the followers of Caravaggio “with<br />

reference to their doctrine of copying nature faithfully whether it seems to us ugly or<br />

beautiful” or “down-to-earth realism.”<br />

Keywords: Personal appreciation; 5D cycle of Appreciative Inquiry; positive themes;<br />

Caravaggio<br />

1. Inleiding<br />

Sedert ek Andrew Graham-Dixon se boeiende biografie van Michelangelo Merisi da<br />

Caravaggio, Italiaanse meesterskilder gelees het, en sy asembenemende skilderye daarin<br />

gesien het, het ek die behoefte ervaar om meer van hom te wete te kom – om uit sy lewe en<br />

werk te leer, om sodoende bewondering en bekoring tot herkenning en waardering te bring.<br />

Toe ’n geleentheid om van sy skilderye in Rome se kerke en kunsmuseums te gaan bestudeer<br />

boonop opduik, was daar ’n merkbare toename in die intensiteit van hierdie behoefte.<br />

Die Christen wat Caravaggio (sien figuur 1) wil waardeer en bewonder, moet egter ’n<br />

belangrike struikelblok oorkom: die skilder was by uitstek ’n skoorsoeker en ook ’n<br />

moordenaar. Volgens Graham-Dixon (20<strong>10</strong>:4) gooi hy onder andere klippe na sy hospita se<br />

477

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