The Martyrdom of St. Matthew Painting Analysis Essay

During the Italian Renaissance many new painting techniques were created and old techniques from the Greco-Roman time revived. The Martyrdom of a Saint ca. 1620-1632 by Carlo Bononi is one such painting that uses some of the techniques of the time including humanism, idealism, linear perspective, chiaroscuro, and sfumato. The Martyrdom of a Saint is similar to Carlo Bononi’s other work in tone and theme. Most of Carlo Bononi’s artwork depicts religious figures in states of distress using dark colors throughout the paintings. Like his other paintings the main figure is bathed in light and decorated in clothing that is a different color from the rest of the painting. The dark subject matter created using linear perspective, humanism, and realism of The Martyrdom of a Saint gives the painting a sense of cruelty and sadness in line with the act of martyrdom.

The very first thing the viewer’s eye is drawn to when looking at The Martyrdom of a Saint is the saint himself. The saint is kneeling across the ground looking upwards with a cane resting on his left forearm. He is clothed in light colored clothing and a white halo. To the left of the saint standing over him, is a man wearing all black, fancy clothing holding a stick in his right hand above his head. On the ground is his hat, also black with a bright blue feather in it (which is the only vibrant color in the painting). He appears to be attacking the saint. Henceforth this man will be referred to as the attacker. Behind the two men is a third, a bystander. looking at the two men in horror and another five men even further away on a bridge. In the background there are buildings on the left taking up about two thirds of the space and a bridge on the right that splits the mountains and the sky. 

Bononi uses linear perspective to great effect in this painting. There are four lines parallel to each other, that are going north-east to south-west. From left to right: the attacker’s stick, the left leg and the body of the attacker, the right side of the saint, and finally the saint’s cane. Though the lines are not perfectly parallel, they help draw the viewer’s attention from one to the next. There is also a line connecting the attacker and saint’s heads. These lines create a certain continuity for the eye to follow in the painting. There are several horizontal lines created by the buildings in the background, and one created by the bridge. One of the lines meets where the saint’s head is located, helping to create the saint to be the focal point of the painting. The line meeting the saint’s head also meets with the one of the angled parallel lines, thus the saint’s head is the vanishing point of the painting. Because the saint’s head is the vanishing point the eye is drawn to it. “V represents the Point of Sight, which in a Picture is an imaginary Point, to which the Eye directs its Sight, and is always in the Horizontal Line” (Cobin 2). Because the viewer looks at the saint’s anguished expression first, the viewer knows right away that the painting has a darker tone to it. The object one looks at first in a painting sets the tone for the rest of the painting. 

The use of colors emphasises the darker tone of the painting. Bononi uses chiaroscuro to highlight the saint while darkening the attacker. “In addition, to creating startling visual effects and highly charged emotionality, chiaroscuro enhances the volumetric quality of figures and objects,” (White 80). The darkening of the light on the attacker’s face by tilting the face downwards creates a more sinister expression on his otherwise emotionless face. Without chiaroscuro the attacker would not appear as dark or evil. In contrast Bononi uses chiaroscuro to give the saint a lighter, more angelic appearance. The saint’s face is tilted towards the sky allowing light to shine on his face.  It emphasizes his expression of grief and sadness of the act to come. The saint is also in the lightest colored clothing, by contrast the rest of the painting is either black of the attacker, greyish-brown of the buildings. or greyish-blue of the sky and mountains. The bystander is bathed in light on one side which helps give his body more depth while his face stays in the dark which befits his horrified expression. There is also a small use of sfumato in the background as the greyish-blue mountains blend in with the pale blue sky. 

The painting also includes elements of humanism, idealism, and realism. “Renaissance gave birth to humanism, Religious works came to emphasize the humanity of Christ instead of his distant divinity,” (Kieran 209). The humanism in this painting is highlighting the saint’s human nature over his divinity instead of Christ’s as is the case of the quote. The saint, who is wearing a halo, can not escape his martyrdom, he is stuck like any human would be. The saint is divine but is still limited by his human form in this painting. In this painting instead of the saint being depicted as ideal, it is actually the attacker who is more ideal looking than the saint. The attacker’s face is handsome and his body correctly proportioned. While the saint’s face appears pale and non symmetrical. Bononi likely wanted to make the saint appear more realistic because “[realism’s] effect is always that of truth to nature” (Kulizinga 291). As the saint is more true to nature he appears more humanistic and less divine. An ideal saint would not make sense in the context of a painting depicting such a dark action against a saint. Only a saint that is human could be subject to the action of martyrdom. Thus the use of making the saint humanistic and real makes the painting feel more realistic. And because the painting is more realistic the dark tone set in the painting creates a more profound emotional effect in the viewer.

The dark tone of the painting, which is immediately set by having the saint’s distressed expression be the vanishing point of the painting, is created by various techniques. The chiaroscuro used on the attacker and saint’s face in addition to the darker colors used give the painting a darker feel to it. The use of humanism and realism make the martyrdom more plausible and thus the painting’s darker subject matter has a deeper effect on the viewer. All together the elements in the painting create a dire image befitting the name The Martyrdom of a Saint.