The man at the information desk had told me the room housing the Caravaggios was closed today, so when I stepped into Salon Five the shock of recognition was all the more intense. It is just four weeks since I was documenting the work of student photographer Leivur Djurhus ’12 on “The Crowning with Thorns.” Leivur was working with classmates on a recreation of the masterpiece, and now I stand before the original. (Video of that shoot will appear in the online edition of this summer’s magazine.)
In his Baroque Series, Leivur does not attempt literal tableaux, but rather strives for the spirit of the originals and, particularly, an understanding of the master’s dramatic handling of light and shade. Before Leivur starts to direct a shoot, he has thoroughly studied the original. The evening we taped “Crowning,” the friends who were to assume the roles of the henchmen in the painting pored over the reproduction so they could place their hands on their staves just right. But Leivur himself barely glanced at the original as he directed the shoot. I took a look myself, and noticed that Caravaggio’s masterwork was housed in the Kunsthistorischesmuseum in Vienna, where I would shortly be headed with a study group from the college. Leivur’s envious appreciation was evident: I hope he will get there himself before too long.
It was a moving experience, watching these young men quietly identify with the events, the emotions, of the moments before the Crucifixion. It was moving, too, to see their commitment to a successful outcome for their classmate’s project. Strange that, within the space of a month, I would behold this 400-year old work of art on two different continents, and in two such powerful ways.
Postscript: This is the video that resulted from our work with Leivur. It was published in the Summer 2012 issue of St. Norbert College Magazine.
