Artist Caravaggio’s faith shines at churches run by Pope Leo XIV’s order and in new exhibit

The name of the Pilgrims’ Madonna references not only the two figures before Mary, but also the fact that on this spot, the Augustinians have welcomed pilgrims en route to the nearby Vatican since the end of the 13th century.

It was to commemorate a pilgrimage to Loreto — a shrine in central Italy where tradition says Mary’s house was miraculously airlifted — that the painting’s well-connected patrons commissioned it, said Alessandro Zuccari. A member of Italy’s prestigious Accademia dei Lincei, he wrote the chapter on spirituality in the Caravaggio exhibit catalog.

A rebel artist

In fact, despite his adventurous life and bluntly realistic art, Caravaggio worked for prestigious, pious patrons, including a cardinal, and is documented to have participated in Catholic rites including Eucharistic adoration, Zuccari added.

That hardly fits the reputation for a transgressive “accursed artist” that Caravaggio — whose full name was Michelangelo Merisi — accrued over the centuries.

“We don’t know what Caravaggio thought, because he left no writings,” Zuccari said. “I’m convinced, as are other experts, that Caravaggio has his own spirituality.”

Out of about 70 paintings by Caravaggio, more than 50 represent saints or Biblical scenes — even those destined for private collections, not churches, he added.

Religious themes across Caravaggio’s work at new exhibit

Some of the best-known are among the two dozen paintings on view at Palazzo Barberini, covering the time from Caravaggio’s arrival in Rome around 1595 to his death in 1610. They include works on loan from Dublin to Kansas City.