St. Andrew The Art Essay of the MAGNIFICAT Month of November

The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew-Caravaggio (1607) 

Illustration

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caravaggio_Crucifixion_santandrew.jpg

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. 

The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew (c. 1606),
Caravaggio (1571 -1610),

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Light and dark faith and disbelief, tenderness and cruelty - Caravaggio masterfully depicts all of these in this painting. This great masterpiece was commissioned by the viceroy of Naples and painted in 1607 but lay in storage for years and was hidden from the public eye. It wasn't until 1954 that authorities agreed that it was indeed a Caravaggio. It now resides in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Now that it has come to light, it can continue to draw viewers into the drama of this great saint's martyrdom.

At first, Saint Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist. One day Jesus passed John and his disciples. John exclaimed, "Behold, the Lamb of God," and Andrew followed Christ from that day forward Jn 1: 35-42). For this reason he is known as the "first-called" of Jesus' twelve apostles. He was certain of Jesus' identity, had the desire to follow Christ, and sought to bring others with him. He was responsible for leading his brother, Simon Peter, to meet the Messiah. Together Andrew and Peter would become "fishers of men" (Mt 4: 19).

Later on in the Gospels, Andrew questioned Christ about the end of the world. Jesus warned them that they would be handed over to the governors and leaders for his sake. They were not to worry about what to say, however. Christ reminded them, "It will not be you who is speaking but the holy Spirit" (Mk 13: 9-1 n. Saint Andrew must have taken these words deeply to heart. He lived his life preaching and bringing others to Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit even up to the moment of his death at the hands of the local government.

According to tradition, Andrew, like Peter, Philip, and Bartholomew,

was martyred by being crucified. He was put to death in Patras, Greece, by the local Roman proconsul, perhaps for having converted the proconsul's own wife to Christianity. In order to make his death longer and more agonising, the proconsul ordered that Andrew be tied to the cross, instead of nailed. However, if the proconsul thought that Andrew would be daunted, his plan failed. The saint managed to live on the cross for three days. While hanging on the cross, Andrew continued preaching, and succeeded in converting many of the twenty thousand people who were drawn to his words. The proconsul finally yielded to the crowd and ordered that he be taken down. Andrew, however, begged God to let him die on the cross like his Son. When the executioner tried to remove the bonds that tied Andrew to the cross, he found himself suddenly paralysed. A blinding heavenly light flashed upon the saint, and when it faded, Andrew had died a martyr.

   

The artist has chosen the moment of Andrew's death for his painting. The black background reminds the viewer of the pagan darkness that surrounded Saint Andrew while he witnessed to the Gospel on his cross. A bright golden-white light coming from the upper left sharply illuminates Andrew's side, and represents the presence of the divine, piercing through the blackness. The executioner strains in vain at Andrew's bonds. Andrews crossed legs and the crossed diagonals of Andrew's body and the executioner's perhaps hint at the traditional belief that he was crucified on an X-shaped cross, instead of a traditional Roman one. The impatient Roman proconsul, in a plumed helmet and gleaming armour, is the unbeliever in the crowd. He looks up at him from below, with eyebrows raised and his hand on his hip. Behind him are two other men, one of whom looks up with his mouth agape. On the other side of the cross, a poor elderly woman, perhaps one of the converts from the crowd, gazes up tenderly. Her face is the only one which shows any sign of true recognition of what is unfolding before her.

One of the many striking aspects of this painting is that it portrays only a few people. His death was supposed to have happened in front of thousands of onlookers. It was a very public miracle, and yet Caravaggio has made this martyrdom into a dramatically intimate scene. It invites the viewer to contemplate the last moments of this great saint, in the position of an onlooker, and to imagine what this miracle might really have been like. During the time of the Counter-Reformation, when Caravaggio painted, Saint Ignatius popularised the spiritual practices of "composition of place" and "application of the senses". These practices consisted of imagining oneself in a scene from the life of Christ (or the lives of the saints) and of engaging one's senses in prayerful contemplation. Prayer and contemplation were crucial at a time when the Catholic faith was in great danger.

It may very well have been that Caravaggio himself was influenced by Ignatian spirituality. Many of his works are highly realistic, deeply spiritual, and inspire the senses. This painting is no exception; one can almost hear the creak of the wooden steps as the executioner ascends to untie the bonds, and the sharp intake of breath of the people below, as they are struck by the glorious light. The soft plumes of the proconsul's helm, the coarse cloth of the executioner's garments, the saint's tanned and wrinkled face - all serve as reminders of the reality of this event. These vivid little details can also be used by the viewers to draw themselves further into contemplation of Saint Andrew's death. Here, Caravaggio reminds all Christians that Saint Andrew died humbly and painfully, tied to a cross, yet filled with the certainty and love that comes from a life lived as a true "fisher of men".

Anna Vitz
 Teacher, holds a B.A. in Art History from
New York University.

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