 |
| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi The Sorrows of Aminta ca. 1615 oil on canvas Philadelphia Museum of Art |
"Bartolomeo Cavarozzi was born in Viterbo in 1587. According to the early writer Giulio Mancini, Cavarozzi's fellow citizen Tarquinio Ligustri welcomed the young artist to Rome between 1600 and 1605, where he would soon meet the powerful Crescenzi family whose members became his main benefactors. . . . Cavarozzi's manner of painting evolved gradually, and his interest in Caravaggio's works became evident in 1615 when he executed one of several versions of The Sorrows of Aminta, a work belong to Juan de Tassis y Peralta, Comte de Villamediana, and at the time attributed to Caravaggio. . . . In 1617 or 1618 Cavarozzi traveled with Giovanni Battista Crescenzi to Madrid, where they stayed for an as yet unspecified period. While in Spain, Cavarozzi would influence local artists and promote the diffusion of the genre. The works he executed there display the substantial, naturalistic figures and use of raking light and darkness found in Caravaggio. Yet Cavarozzi developed his own distinctive style. He avoided the overtly dramatic presentation of many of Caravaggio's followers, instead favoring a more tender, restrained figure. It is known that he returned to Rome by 1621 and died there in 1625."
 |
| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi The Sorrows of Aminta ca. 1625 oil on canvas Musée du Louvre |
"Cavarozzi's elegiac painting of The Sorrows of Aminta is known in several versions, but the example in the Louvre appears to be the best quality. The character wearing a laurel is captured in the act of performing on the recorder, while the other, resting his head on a tambourine, is dressed in a loose white shirt derived from several examples in Caravaggio. . . . The design is imbalanced – almost casual in the arrangement – with a weighting to the viewer's left. Cavarozzi's picture is unlike any of the prototypes in Caravaggio, however, in making reference to a literary source. The identification of the text turned towards the spectator allows us to add a more specific layer of meaning. It corresponds to a madrigal by Erasmo Marotta published in 1600, inspired by act three, scene two of Torquato Tasso's popular pastoral Aminta first performed in 1573. The play celebrated the power of love, but the text leads to the observation that Aminta is portrayed playing music to console himself following the death of his beloved Sylvia, while his companion Thyrsis listens, refusing to make a sound with the tambourine associated with joyous occasions."
– from the exhibition catalogue, Caravaggio & His Followers in Rome, curated by David Franklin and Sebastian Schütze (Yale University Press, 2011)
 |
| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Holy Family with St Catherine ca. 1617-19 oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid |
 |
| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Madonna and Child with Angels ca. 1620 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
 |
| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Grape Vines and Fruit with Three Wagtails ca. 1615-18 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
"More than a still life, the picture is a record of a variety of grapes and other fruits, and reflects a moment when art and the natural sciences intersect. Cavarozzi spent time in the academy established by the noble-born Giovanni Battista Crescenzi for the purpose of studying nature. The still-life details of his painting are astonishingly rendered and were important for the history of still-life painting in both Italy and Spain, where he accompanied Crescenzi in 1617-19. The birds have been identified as pied wagtails, common to yards, gardens, and stone walls."
– from curator's notes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
 |
| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Basket of Fruit on a Stone Ledge before 1625 oil on canvas private collection |
 |
| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi after Caravaggio Sacrifice of Isaac ca. 1615 oil on canvas private collection |
 |
| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi after Caravaggio Supper at Emmaus ca. 1615-25 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
"As the innkeeper looks on, the resurrected Christ reveals himself to his apostles Cleophas and Saint Peter, as described in the Gospel of Luke: When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. The artist heightens the scene's tension by positioning the table at the very front of the picture plane, hemming in the substantial figures. Cavarozzi's painting follows Caravaggio's innovative treatment of the subject that is now in the National Gallery, London. During the 1600s, Caravaggio's original was in Rome, where it was seen and copied by many artists."
– from curator's notes at the Getty Museum
 |
| attributed to Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Christ healing the Sick before 1625 oil on canvas private collection |
 |
| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Virgin and Child 1625 oil on canvas Museo del Colle del Duomo, Viterbo |
 |
| attributed to Bartolomeo Cavarozzi St Peter and St Paul examining the Gospel before 1625 oil on canvas private collection |
 |
| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Guardian Angel before 1625 oil on canvas Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires |
 |
| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Holy Family ca. 1617-25 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| attributed to Bartolomeo Cavarozzi St Jerome before 1625 oil on canvas private collection |