New Apartment

The new apartment seems to have been added onto the original plan of Palazzo Avogadro, and is described in the inventory as adjoining the old apartment, which housed the Great Hall and the New Narrow Gallery, among other rooms [1]. The new apartment would therefore be at a remove from the visitors first entering into the palazzo, and would not be immediately visible. Cardinal del Monte surely would have invited visitors to see the collection in this stretch of the palazzo, as its rooms led out into one of the impressive gardens on the property, which displayed various marble and bronze statues worthy of showing to guests [2]. The display of paintings in the new apartment included famous works by Caravaggio, such as The Lute Player and The Musicians. Cardinal del Monte had a great affinity for music, and such imagery was repeated throughout the house. The choice to display these works by Caravaggio with their sexual undertones at a remove from the initial entrance to the palazzo, but still displayed openly where visitors could still observe, underscores the notion of public intimacy within the walls of Palazzo Avogadro.

First Room of New Apartment

Caravaggio, The Musicians 

Caravaggio’s The Musicians was displayed in the first room of the new apartment with only three other paintings. This piece was one of few paintings to catch visitors’ eyes as they entered this space, and was therefore of high importance. Additionally, this painting was adorned with an ornate gilded frame, unlike other pieces in del Monte’s collection, further drawing attention toward it [3].

The Musicians depicts three figures and Cupid, seemingly on the cusp of beginning their performance. The central figure tunes a lute, while another gazes down at a sheet of music. The musicians have effeminate, almost androgynous faces, and the ones turned toward the viewer have slightly parted red lips. They are clothed in antique garb, with white robes draped over their bodies. The boy with his back to the spectators reveals a white patch of skin, as his robe slinks off one shoulder. The boy in the back is shirtless, and the other two figures’ chests and shoulders peek out from their drapery. Gilbert Creighton, an art history scholar, argues that this picture is not a sensual one, but referential to concerts that actually took place within the walls of Palazzo Madama. Cardinal del Monte often had musicians living in the palace, and they came to entertain him and his guests. Creighton argues that Cupid is the only figure who is completely nude, while the others are completely dressed [4]. Scholars such as Donald Posner and Franca Camiz, however, suggest that the placement of the violin in the foreground of the images as well as the erotic expressions of the musicians imply a homo-erotic context [5][6]. The neck of the violin faces outward, pointed to the spectator, inviting him to take part in the making of beautiful music. Posner argues that the concert has not yet begun, and the musicians wait for the spectator to pick up the foreshortened instrument to begin the music [7]. Furthermore, the parted lips are seductive, as the musicians beckon the onlooker to join in on the sensual creation of music. The musicians do not only address the spectator but effectively solicit the spectator, implying a homosexual tension between the real experience of concerts in Palazzo Madama as well as the desires of Cardinal del Monte to fuse his sexual appetites with his artistic interest in music.

Veronese, Allegory of Music

Along with Cardinal del Monte’s sexual and artistic interests in the imagery of Caravaggio’s The Musicians, he would have been aware of its historical refiguring and homage to Paolo Veronese’s Allegory of Music. Veronese’s piece won a prize from Sansovino and Titian, who both happened to be the godfathers of Cardinal del Monte. Thus, Cardinal del Monte would have been well aware of the existence of this image when he commissioned The Musicians from Caravaggio [7]. In Veronese’s painting, he represents three female figures and Cupid between them. Cupid’s presence suggests that love exists within the creation of music, and the women each hold an instrument, ranging from a lyre to a double bass. The women are all draped in elaborate, colorful dresses, while Cupid wanders among them semi-nude. A classical statue gazes down at the musicians, recalling the importance of music in antiquity and its ritualized tradition seeped in imagery. 

Veronese’s Allegory of Music offers a vastly different depiction of a concert than Caravaggio’s The Musicians. Caravaggio’s interpretation transforms the women into men and dresses them in antique garb. A similar array of instruments are displayed in both paintings, although Caravaggio’s foreshortened composition does not have the canvas space to show the double bass that Veronese paints. Caravaggio’s painting eroticizes the musicians and plays on the act of making music as a sexual practice. The shift from the allegorical figures as women to the concert of men presents Cardinal del Monte’s interest in the male figure in a sensual, intimate context. Additionally, Caravaggio’s painting synthesizes Cardinal del Monte’s interest in music, men, and Caravaggio’s artistry and reputation that serves to further del Monte’s cultural capital. 

Third room on Right-Hand side of Apartment

Caravaggio, The Lute Player

Caravaggio’s The Lute Player illustrates an iteration on a similar theme. In it, a young, effeminate boy wrapped in antique drapery plays the lute. The background is very dark, almost entirely encompassed in shadow, while the boy and the lute are brightly lit. Three other instruments are scattered on the table before the lute player, likely modeled after instruments Cardinal del Monte actually possessed in the palazzo. This served as a splendid display of some of the instruments del Monte cherished and owned, and speaks to their craftsmanship and high quality. The motif of the foreshortened violin, with its neck pointing out toward the viewer, is repeated here, and similarly solicits the spectator to join in making the music. The youth's lips are vibrantly red and parted sensually. Scholar Franca Camiz notes that the scores in front of the youth are not accurate reproductions of published music, but are nonetheless sensual and evocative of love and longing [9]. 

Cardinal del Monte's new apartment offers a sensual, intimate peek into private aspects of his life. The cropped Caravaggio's paintings invited viewers to stand up close to the works of art; the effeminate boys, tantalizing their audience, demanded intimate, proximate attention on behalf of the spectator. The special treatment of the erotic Caravaggio paintings again underscores Cardinal del Monte's extensive championing of the artist and affirms his own strengths as a patron and collector, greatly valuing the commissions from Caravaggio. Furthermore, these collections of paintings displayed in a more minimalistic setting would have promoted the study of these pieces. Cardinal del Monte's involvement with the Academia di San Luca necessitated that his private collection serve as a scholastic shrine, and these paintings in a more enclosed space would have presented an excellent opportunity for students to study Caravaggio's tenebrism, naturalistic forms, and composition. 

We have arrived at the end of our tour of Cardinal del Monte's Palazzo Avogadro. The Great Hall, New Narrow Gallery, and New Apartment rooms offered invaluable insights into the private arrangement of art in del Monte's home. The choice to display certain works at the entrance to the home and others in a more secluded gallery elucidate the material configurations of the identity formation of Cardinal del Monte. His public facing, yet more intimate palazzo served as a locus for political, social, cultural, and sexual desires, which the Cardinal expressed through his patronage. 

References: 

[1] Christoph Luitpold Frommel, “Caravaggios Frühwerk und der Kardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte,” Storia dell’arte 9, (1971): 35

[2] Bell, Peter Jonathan. “The Bronze Siren from the Del Monte and Barberini Collections.” Metropolitan Museum Journal 46 (2011): 164.

[3] Christoph Luitpold Frommel, “Caravaggios Frühwerk und der Kardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte,” Storia dell’arte 9, (1971): 44. 

[4] Creighton Gilbert, Caravaggio and his Two Cardinals (University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), 118. 

[5] Donald Posner, "Caravaggio's Homo-Erotic Early Works," Art Quarterly 34 (1971): page 303. 

[6] Franca Trinchieri Camiz, “Music and Painting in Cardinal Del Monte’s Household.” Metropolitan Museum Journal 26 (1991): 216.

[7] Donald Posner, "Caravaggio's Homo-Erotic Early Works.” 

[8] Creighton Gilbert, Caravaggio and his Two Cardinals (University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), 117.

[9] Franca Trinchieri Camiz, “Music and Painting in Cardinal Del Monte’s Household.” Metropolitan Museum Journal 26 (1991): 218.