Swordwind Demonstration and Fencing Match

Swordwind brings a demonstration and fencing match to the Mint Museum Uptown on Sunday, October 11. It's a related event for Caravaggio | Revolution: Baroque Masterpieces from the Roberto Longhi Foundation, which has been on view at the museum since April 26 and runs through October 25. The demonstration focuses on historical weapons and fighting styles, tied directly to the Baroque era that the exhibition covers.

The show itself centers on Caravaggio's original masterpiece Boy Bitten by a Lizard, one of more than 40 works by Baroque masters who painted in his style. Alongside it are pieces by Matthias Stomer, Valentin de Boulogne, and Jusepe de Ribera, all on loan from the Roberto Longhi Foundation in Florence. The exhibition traces Caravaggio's revolutionary use of chiaroscuro—that sharp contrast between light and dark—and his unflinching realism, and then links them to modern film and photography. You'll find commentary from figures like Martin Scorsese, Isaac Julien, David LaChapelle, and Tom Hunter, as well as music videos like R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" and Johnny Cash's "Hurt."

Caravaggio died at 38, but his influence reached far beyond his own time, which is what the exhibition spends so much time exploring. The Swordwind demonstration brings that Baroque world into the physical space, letting you see the kinds of weapons and fighting styles that would have been familiar to the people and subjects Caravaggio painted. If you've already spent time with the paintings, it's a way to see those historical details in motion rather than just on canvas.

The demonstration takes place on Level 4 of the Mint Museum Uptown. The exhibition Caravaggio | Revolution stays on view through October 25, so if you want to see the paintings before or after the match, you've got a few weeks to fit it in.