Did Caravaggio seriously think this is exactly how the scene in Getsemane looked? Of course not. I don't think he was even trying to recreate how it might "really" have looked, or that he thought "this is how Jesus is bound to have looked". He was trying to tell the story in the most effective way he could. With his highly realistic painting, he was trying to drag you into the story and create a feeling of verisimilitude. He didn't say "oh, but this may not be at all how it looked really, so I don't need to get the details of the light glinting off the armour right." He wanted it to look realistic to the point of you feeling you were standing there with them, because that was how he could engage the onlooker and most effectively tell his story. And he kept the details from the sources accurate - it was night; there were disciples and soldiers; Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss etc... He just fleshed out the bare bones with a lot of imaginary details. And he did it in order to tell a story about betrayal and fear and anger and sacrifice and suffering that is relevant outside the historical context of the Jesus myth and probably contains his own thoughts and feelings and experiences as much the Biblical story.
Isn't that really pretty similar to what we do and why we care about getting the details right although we know we are not telling the "real" story? It gave me some perspective, anyway.
You see, my big issue with the painting is that it has no real interest in historical accuracy. It is more concerned with the time at which it was painted, from the Jews being given a Renaissance makeover to the medieval armour of men who are supposed to be Roman soldiers (my theologian-student sister has just pointed out the armour is in fact Spanish). It says more about 16th century Italy than 1st century Judaea (as well as a Catholic response to the Reformation).
There may be a human truth in (the very theatrical) painting, but no historical truth there at all. What I find most interesting is the story behind the painting, that the Catholic church was attempting halt the Protestant Reformation through religious art.
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