XXIX
Caravaggio’s career as a Knight of Malta was all too brief, ending suddenly in his arrest and disgrace. We do not have the full details, but we can discount the theory that he was disowned by the order when it learned about the killing of Ranuccio Tommasoni. The grand master had always known this and had obtained a dispensation.
While contemporary sources agree on the broad outlines of what happened, the key account is by Susinno, who wrote a hundred years later. From his vocabulary, it looks as though he himself belonged to the Order of Malta, as either a chaplain or as a Priest of Obedience, that is, a priest employed to serve one of the knights’ chapels. He therefore understood the Religion and its members’ highly individual mentality. No other early writer on Caravaggio possessed this sort of specialist knowledge.
Bellori’s version of Caravaggio’s Maltese downfall is, however, the one that has been used most. He says, “abruptly, his disturbed genius caused him to forfeit the Grand Master’s favor, and because of a stupid quarrel with a most noble Knight, he was thrown into prison….” Clearly, Bellori had heard that his opponent was someone of considerable distinction.
Susinno’s account is not so very different, but it contains one particularly significant clue. “Michelangelo paraded in front of everybody with the Cross on his chest, but this did not calm his troubled spirit, and he let himself be blinded by the madness of thinking himself a nobleman born [italics mine]. A Knight’s quality is not shown by pride, but by a wish to please. He grew so rash that one day he competed with other Knights, and he fought with a Knight of Justice.”
If there was one thing of which every member of the Religion was profoundly convinced, it was the value of noble blood, descent from a long line of warrior aristocrats with unquestioned lordship over the land and those who toiled on it. God had placed all men in the condition He saw fit, and Susinno reflected the general view, that Caravaggio was insane to think himself the equal of a man who was a Knight of Justice by right of noble birth. Generally, other men of obscure origin who became knights through dispensation were gratifyingly mindful of their “low extraction.”
Speculation about just what prompted the quarrel has ranged from a dispute over a woman to a sexual assault on one of the grand master’s pages, lurid fantasies for which there is not the slightest shred of evidence. The most plausible explanation is undoubtedly Susinno’s, that it was a fight over rank and birth. Some years later another painter-knight, Mattia Preti, also a Knight of Magistral Obedience, found himself in a situation of this sort when a member of the Religion began to sneer at his questionable pretensions to noble blood and his undistinguished background. After a few days, Preti lost his temper, whipped out his rapier, and left the man for dead.
Caravaggio’s haughty antagonist may well have told him that he was no more than a painter. It was probably a considerable time since anyone had spoken unpleasantly to Fra’ Michelangelo. As Bellori put it, Caravaggio “had lived on Malta as an honoured guest, prospering in every way.” He had forgotten that he had arrived on the island as a fugitive. The Religion’s flattery and his new status as a professed knight had completely turned his head.
We do not know his opponent’s name, though Bellori’s “most noble Knight” sounds very like a Bailiff Grand Cross, one of the order’s senior officers. It is also possible that he belonged to one of the great families of southern Italy, since he had unusually good contacts in Naples. Clearly very important, and perhaps elderly, he was a man whom Caravaggio should never have dared to confront. The combat that ensued was much more than a brush with swords. No one else seems to have taken part, since no one else was arrested afterward. It looks as though Caravaggio attacked his antagonist in a burst of blind rage. He appears to have hurt him very badly, inflicting wounds that would take months to heal.
Why did the fight cause such outrage among the Religion? Despite the harsh penalties, duels were not uncommon at Valletta, generally taking place in Strada Stretta. It was customary to mark with a cross the spot where a knight had been killed, and during the next century an English tourist counted twenty crosses in this street. What seems to have angered the brethren was not so much Caravaggio fighting a duel as his opponent’s distinction.
Instead of rushing down to the harbor, boarding a boat about to sail, and escaping from Malta without delay, Caravaggio simply went home and stayed there, apparently unhurt. What makes his behavior so extraordinary is that, during his novitiate, his novice master must surely have made sure that the killer of Ranuccio Tommasoni learned all about the savage penalties on Malta for this sort of offense. He was quickly arrested by the grand viscount, the island’s senior police officer; perhaps significantly, he was not apprehended by the master squire, who normally dealt with errant brethren. Far from being confined to his house, he was immediately dragged off to prison, plainly on orders given at the very highest level.
His arrest by the grand viscount, who seldom had dealings with members of the Religion, was so unusual that everyone in Valletta must have heard about it. Undoubtedly, the order was very angry indeed and wanted to punish him severely. Yet, if it did, it would face an international outcry for imprisoning such a great artist. The grand master was well aware that Scipione Borghese, in particular, could be counted on to make serious trouble, and he had no wish to upset the omnipotent cardinal secretary. Fra’ Alof may even have wanted to pardon Caravaggio. He had the power to do so, but, conceivably, he feared that a pardon in this case might upset the brethren. He seems to have decided that the simplest solution was to let the painter escape, and then expel him from the Religion.
Caravaggio had done more than make it impossible for himself to remain a member of the Order of Malta. He had acquired the most dangerous enemy of his entire career. We can be sure of at least one thing about the unknown knight. He was implacably revengeful. When he recovered from his wounds, he would begin a carefully planned vendetta, and Caravaggio would live in fear for his life until the day he died.