Foundations
Caravaggio
The Calling of Saint Matthew
1599–1600
Oil on canvas, about 324 × 340 cm. Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
The story is told by the light: it enters from high at the right, beyond the frame, and slants down toward the tax collector Christ is calling.
- The figures at the table are caught in the beam; the room around them stays dark.
- The painted window, which one source describes as covered with oilskin, adds a diffused light; the same source suggests it recalls a painter's studio window.
Concepts
Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain