GEMÄLDEGALERIE, Love Triumphant By Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi, better known as Caravaggio, was an innovative painter. He was the first to paint directly using a brush, without a preparatory sketch; he perfected the chiaroscuro technique, and struck observers with the vibrant realism of his works. Love Triumphant is one of his most famous paintings.

Caravaggio painted it in Rome between 1602 and 1603 for his patron, Vincenzo Giustiniani.

The theme of the painting is Cupid, the Roman god of erotic love and one of the most frequently portrayed figures of classical mythology. The original title, Amor vincit omnia (“love conquers all”) is from a verse by the poet Virgil.

Unlike painters before him, Caravaggio did not idealize the god of love as an innocent little cherub, portraying instead an earthly creature able to awaken desire through a body in flesh and blood.

The model for the young god was a lad from Rome’s lower classes, Francesco Boneri, a servant and lover of the artist for years, who posed for some Caravaggio’s other well-known paintings, including the famous John the Baptist....