Cupid Chastised

Bartolomeo Manfredi of Ostiano was the most gifted of Caravaggio’s early Roman followers, and the imitators of his style were so numerous that the biographer Giovanni Baglione coined the term “Manfrediana methodus” for the school that spread the master’s naturalism across Europe. This large canvas, painted in 1613 at the height of his Roman career, treats the punishment of Cupid — a favourite theme among the Caravaggisti — with the strong chiaroscuro and the figures taken from everyday life that were the hallmarks of the manner. Manfredi died young in 1622, and works firmly attributed to him are rare; the AIC canvas is among the largest and most important to survive, a benchmark of the Caravaggesque moment between the master’s death and the rise of the Baroque classicists. The painting is held in the Art Institute of Chicago.