War of the Foxes by Richard Siken

Author:Richard Siken [Siken, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
Published: 2015-08-31T22:00:00+00:00

Caravaggio, David with the Head of Goliath, 1609–10

Wanted for murder, a price on his head, Caravaggio

does what he always does—he tries to paint his

way out of it. This bad boy—whose moodiness came

to be called the Baroque, this thug whose soul

was as big as Rome and full of anvils—paints his own

face on Goliath’s severed head and offers himself up

as villain, captured, to escape the hammers of the law.

Allegory, yes. A truth as well. But truth doesn’t count

in law, only proof. He took the gods and made them

human. His Bacchus was a worn-out drunk. An animal

likely to sleep in a pool of its own sick. He raised

the status of the still life, made subjects out of objects,

turned nature into drama—the bloom on the grapes,

the bloom on the boys, leaves as important as

nudes. Exaggerated light, pure theater. Evidence

of a mind he delights in. Evicted from Rome, he wants

back in. They want his head and he’s prepared to

give it to them. He paints David in yellow pants while

the pope’s nephew arranges his pardon. July 1610—

Caravaggio rolls up his paintings and sets sail from

Naples, heading north. They stop for supplies. No

one’s heard of the pardon. Jail. He pays his way out,

but the boat and his paintings have sailed on without

him. He follows. Malaria. He dies three days before

his pardon arrives and three days after Rembrandt’s

fourth birthday. His painted head arrives in Rome weeks

later. All painting is sent downstream, into the future.

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