The Musicians

The Musicians
By Aron Blye
The Musicians by Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio really caught my eye for a few reasons. These reasons include the harmony of colors, the faces of the musicians, and the realistic feeling to the painting.
But first a little about the artist, Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio. He was born in 1571 around Rome. He was born into a society where the idealism of Michelangelo was still the norm. Where all other artists had distorted the human body in there paintings, Caravaggio rejected this and painted with a form of realism never before seen. He was always in trouble with the law and was always on the run from the authorities. This did not stop him in his pursuit of painting and he created beautiful works of art without a proper studio.
In the painting The Musicians there is a harmony of colors. All the colors in this work of art seem to blend flawlessly with one another. The whites and manilas blend in with the shade of peach of the boy’s faces. The brown color of the lyre and the violin capture each other’s beauty and bring a sort of harmonization to the painting. Also the one red sash around one of the musicians is the focal point of the entire painting and pulls the whole work of art together.
The faces of the musicians also caught my eye. Each musician has the same face. Each face has the same look too. The musician in the foreground has the same almost dumbfounded look on their face and the musicians on either corner are both looking down towards the ground.
And finally, the painting is so very realistic it has a sort of photo look to it. It looks as if Caravaggio had had a still picture camera and took a picture. You can see every bone in the turned around Musician and if you look hard enough you can almost see the notes on the composition paper one of the artists are reading.

"The Musicians" by Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio