Caravaggio, as a painter of sensuality, was equally as talented in evoking the pleasures of the table. The people in his paintings are frequently eating and drinking, and even when he doesn’t explicitly depict food and drink, he discreetly adds a dish or culinary accessory. The events of the painter’s life which have interested historians are littered with allusions to his resentment towards the meagre meals offered to him by his hosts, to his anger at an innkeeper concerning the seasoning of artichokes, or to the brawls in which he was involved in various taverns of Rome and Naples. In the famous painting Rest on the Flight into Egypt, he places a large bottle of wine next to the figure of Saint Joseph. There are also the bunches of grapes in the painting of Bacchus and the self-portrait as Sick Bacchus, or Bacchus with Grapes, and the fruit in Boy Peeling a Fruit, Boy Bitten by a Lizard, Boy with a Basket of Fruit, and Basket of Fruit in the Ambrosiana Gallery. In The Lute Player, in St Petersburg, the pears, figs, and fennel are combined with daisies, lilies, and jasmine. All the gifts of God are present on the table of the hedonist Bacchus and of The Musicians who invite the spectator to taste the pleasures of earth and in particular the pleasures provided by music. It is difficult to describe the second version of Supper at Emmaus as spiritual or mystical. This is not because the grapes are out of season, nor because of the sumptuous roast on the table or the appetising pâté en croûte, but because the faces of the innkeeper and the waitress in the composition are equally as important as that of Christ.
Victual platters and flasks are often present, even in the tragic scene of The Crucifixion of Saint Peter in which the executioners have the right to eat before and after having carried out their difficult deed. What an opportunity for Caravaggio when he illustrated the divine words “relieving the thirsty” in The Seven Works of Mercy. He dedicated himself with evident pleasure to imagining this caricature of a rapacious drinker.
Where certain agreeable painters found their satisfaction in painting, like a pseudonym, vegetable or animal poetic emblems (notably the ducklings of Marco Palmezzano, the sparrows of Passerotti, and the carnations of Benvenuto Ferrarese) Caravaggio preferred the accessories of the cook and the wine merchant, using the bowl or the flask as a signature. The verbascum, or mullein, bushes are both distinguishing features of the painter’s work (see Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Saint John the Baptist and The Entombment). It is not surprising that Caravaggio had a penchant for them since they reminded him of cabbage or lettuce.
His famous Bacchus, far from being a conventional representation of a pagan god, is an androgynous and rounded figure with a radiant complexion who, leaning on a day bed, holds out a cup of wine towards the viewer and invites him to enjoy the terrestrial pleasures. The mastery of still life he shows in painting the transparency of the glass, the reflections on the carafe, the basket of fruit, the fig-leaves in his hair and the draped movements of the toga, the mastery of the naked figure illustrated in the god’s luminous complexion, the redness of his cheeks and hand, the sensuality of his gestures, and his lascivious attitude, all render homage to Hedonism and reach their climax here, demonstrating why this painting is one of Caravaggio’s most famous works. It seduces any viewer contemplating it, so that under the charm of the natural and bewitching sensuality of the pagan god, the viewer is willing to follow him and be swept away by joyful bacchanals.
There is also another pleasure that features significantly in Caravaggio’s works: gaming. Games and gambling played a very specific part in his paintings. He created several paintings on this theme in which one can see groups of players with cards, chess, or dice. One of the first altarpieces he made, The Calling of Saint Matthew, caused a stir in Rome because the five characters were seated at a gaming table. One of them, seeing Jesus entering the room to announce his mission to Matthew, seems to take back the coins he has just won as if he had seen a thief coming in. In the Denial of Saint Peter, three soldiers deeply absorbed in a dice game divert the attention of the viewer from the eloquent face of the old man (the principal figure in the painting), which is very characteristic of Caravaggio’s work. To this series is added the famous painting The Cardsharps.