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What hides the picture The Incredulity of Saint Thomas of Caravaggio

2015-09-05

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas

In any American art history or history of Western Civ classroom, you’re practically guaranteed to hear of and see works from Caravaggio. But this work is less likely to be seen in PowerPoints and textbooks as an example because it includes a man whose race appears ambiguous to Americans-the man with brown skin who represents one of the Apostles accompanying Doubting Thomas to examine the wounds of Christ. Here is an image from caravaggio.org of people viewing the painting in a museum, to hopefully offset the illusion that any one specific photograph can capture its colors and contrasts perfectly.

We are encouraged to assume that because he is “from history” he must therefore be white; he is white because he is from history.Sometimes we are even prompted to imagine the people in these paintings as someone we know, perhaps they look like us, or a relative of ours. But if the works we see are limited to only white or white-appearing people, how does this affect our sense of identity and connection to history? Are students of color discouraged from identifying with the people in paintings like this one, and why or why not? Further analysis and examination in this direction is discouraged in most classroom environments and disciplines, although this is beginning to change. My focus is on examining our expectations of these works, and how we as viewers categorize and identify with the people depicted in them.