Episode 1: Caravaggio
Focusing on eight iconic works of art such as Caravaggio’s David and Goliath, David’s Death of Marat and Picasso’s Guernica, this series reveals the history of visual imagination through the ages.
A combination of dramatic reconstruction, spectacular photography and Simon Schama’s unique and personal style transport the viewer back to the intense moments the great works were conceived and born; from the murderous world of baroque Rome; paranoid, revolutionary Paris and the carnage of civil war Spain to the paradox of 1950s New York, caught between Cold War jitters and Manhattan glitter. Simon Schama’s Power of Art is the epic story of an unfolding force, a chance to witness the power of the individuals who changed the way we view the world.
Caravaggio’s approach to painting was unconventional. He avoided the standard method of making copies of old sculptures and instead took the more direct approach of painting directly onto canvas without drawing first. He also used people from the street as his models. His dramatic painting was enhanced with intense and theatrical lighting.
