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On 26 October, the exhibition ‘Caravaggio. The Narcissus of Palazzo Barberini. The great art in Brianza', at the Villa Confalonieri in Merate. To celebrate this extraordinary event, Bottega Tifernate wanted to pay homage to this iconic work by producing a reproduction using the pictography technique, available for purchase in our online shop.
'Narcissus' is a unique work, for the way in which Caravaggio transforms the concept of specularity and illusion into an image: Narcissus is mirrored in water, but the reflected figure is upside down, almost like a playing card. The work is not only the representation of a myth, but a profound reflection on identity and illusion, as well as on the blurred boundary between reality and perception.

Visual attention is captured by the bare knee in the centre, visually connecting the real and reflected worlds. The large puffed sleeve guides the gaze towards the hand submerged in water, in a poignant attempt to touch the deceptive image of himself. Narcissus' face, with its open mouth, expresses the pain of an impossible desire: the young man realises the illusory nature of his love for his own image and succumbs to his passion with no way out, as recounted in Book III of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

The TechniqueThe work is executed in oil-painted pictography, following the methods and recipes typical of Caravaggio's work. The 1:1 size allows one to fully enjoy the experience of the original. The work is executed with Maimeri and Winsor & Newton and Schminke colours. The details are executed with the aid of a special magnifying glass in order to recreate every detail perfectly. Two successive levels of coverage are provided. The work was finally mounted on a solid wood frame, modelled on the original in Florentine cassette style; prepared with red bole, it was gilded with pure gold leaf.