Two paintings brought me to Messina – ‘The Adoration of the Shepherds’ and ‘Resurrection of Lazarus’. Two of the last paintings of Caravaggio! It’s believed Caravaggio was on his way to Rome when he stopped in Messina and was engaged to paint these two paintings.
The time is just stopping while standing in front of the paintings and admiring the dramatically lit, monumental figures. Humility in ‘The Adoration of the Shepherds’ is overwhelming. By seating the Virgin on the ground, Caravaggio implies that she is not a heavenly queen, but rather a simple young mother.
In ‘Resurrection of Lazarus’ the light is more than ever presented as a metaphor for the power of the spirit. With one hand reaching towards the light and the other towards the skull, Lazarus appears to be in between life and death. According to legend, Caravaggio had a freshly buried body exhumed in order to make the painting more realistic. As all of Caravaggio’s paintings, these two paintings also get under your skin. What a painter Caravaggio was!
At the time of our visit, there was a school lesson at the spot of Caravaggio’s paintings. We had to wait for the class to leave so we could see the paintings in peace. A few girls from the class were noisy; they were taking some photos of the paintings like they were on a model photo session and were grinning so loudly. Not really nice when people want to see and concentrate on the paintings. When the parents are not around, the teacher should tell the students to respect the paintings and other visitors too! The staff also should at least to remark that this is a public place and ask them to keep silence. I did not let myself down because of this experience but it was not necessary to have it.
There are some notes in English but it would be good to have more explanations about the paintings themselves.