Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art presents Burst of Light. Caravaggio and His Legacy on view from March 6 – June 16, 2013.
Simon Vouet, Saint Jerome and the Angel, c. 1622. Oil on canvas. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Samuel H. Kress Collection, purchased 1957.
Burst of Light: Caravaggio and His Legacy explores the enduring legacy of the renowned painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and his tremendous influence on seventeenth-century art. In addition to five* works by Caravaggio, St. Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, Martha and Mary Magdelen, Salome Receives the Head of St. John the Baptist, The Denial of St. Peter and Saint John the Baptist, the exhibition will show nearly thirty paintings by his followers, known as “Caravaggisti.” These works reveal Caravaggio’s impact in the use of dramatic lighting, emotionally compelling compositions, genre scenes, and religious themes in works by artists such as Gentileschi, Saraceni, Riminaldi, Ribera, Zurbarán and Sweerts.
Burst of Light: Caravaggio and His Legacy at The Wadsworth Atheneum is supported by Bank of America and U.S. Trust with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, the Department of Economic and Community Development Office of Tourism, and the David T. Langrock Foundation. www.thewadsworth.org