Caravaggio's "A Concert" This paper will discuss a painting by Caravaggio

The work was commissioned by the Cardinal del Monte, who was Caravaggio's first patron and helped the young artist to advance his career. The painting is representative of Caravaggio's early genre pieces. At this point in the artist's career, he had not yet started to paint the unique religious scenes that he is best known for.

A Concert stands as a fine example of the works of the early Baroque period in art. The Baroque period began in the late 16th century and lasted until the middle of the 18th century. It represented a time when secular themes were becoming prominent in art. In contrast to the earlier High Renaissance period, in which paintings usually depicted heroic and religious figures, Baroque art began to feature ordinary people engaged in familiar acts in natural settings. This became known as genre art, an important style of the Baroque which featured "the depiction of types in typical secular activities having no ulterior motive" (Elsen 173).

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d about their bodies, revealing a great deal of bare skin. The expressions on the faces of the two boys who face forward are sensual in the extreme; their lips are slightly parted, and their eyes are heavy-lidded and half-closed. They look directly at the viewer, in what almost amounts to a sexual come-on. Because of these factors, one theme of the painting is eroticism. This is further expanded upon by the presence in the painting of Cupid, the Roman god of erotic love. As noted by Hibbard, this Cupid figure, as painted by Caravaggio, originally had wings, and thus was a more recognizable representation of the god. However, the painting was damaged at some time, and Cupid's wings were painted over to form a dark background (Hibbard 31). In addition to the obvious erotic elements of the painting, the theme of sensuality is also carried forth in the idea of the music which the boys are preparing to play. Music is sensual in and of itself, and this is reflected by the attitude of the musicians as well. The idea of music also relates to a secondary theme of the painting, that of harmony. Harmony, in classical terms, relates to the order and perfection of the universe, as well as to music. In music, the untuned instrument r
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1716
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)