Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, (1571 - 1610) Italian painter with great influence both in Italy and abroad.
Caravaggio is particularly renowned for his use of chiaroscuro, a technique that uses light and dark to achieve a 3-D effect. Caravaggio breaks away from the tradition of symmetrical figures and detailed backgrounds. His figures do retain a traditional monumentality. His later work is less plastic.
Caravaggio takes his name from the village where he was born. He receives his first training in Milan, specializing in still-lives. Around 1592 he takes to Rome, the spiritual capital of the Italian peninsula, switching his subject matter to street-life and young boys.
In 1595 Caravaggio's talent catches the eye of cardinal Francesco Del Monte, who subsequently becomes his first patron. Caravaggio's three paintings on the life of St Matthew cause a sensation: never before has a saint, let alone an apostle, been shown like this. (calling, inspiration, martyrdom) After this succès fou, Caravaggio takes all his subjects from the New Testament.
Caravaggio's life is as turbulent as his personality. He has many run-ins with the law and is arrested on several occasions. In 1606 a bet over a game of tennis leads to an argument, at which point Caravaggio draws his sword and kills his opponent. He flees to Naples, intending to take the long way home to Rome - where friends are lobbying for his rehabilitation - via Malta and Sicily. On his wanderings, he produces several masterpieces, such as The Beheading of St John the Baptist, which he creates in Malta. He dies before reaching Rome, probably of pneumonia, in Porto Ercole. Several days after his death word arrives of papal absolution.
Caravaggio's influence is widespread: outside Italy, he inspires painters as diverse as Georges de La Tour and members of the Utrecht School, e.g. Gerrit van Honthorst – artists who in their turn are later to influence Rembrandt.
Caravaggio is particularly renowned for his use of chiaroscuro, a technique that uses light and dark to achieve a 3-D effect. Caravaggio breaks away from the tradition of symmetrical figures and detailed backgrounds. His figures do retain a traditional monumentality. His later work is less plastic.
Caravaggio takes his name from the village where he was born. He receives his first training in Milan, specializing in still-lives. Around 1592 he takes to Rome, the spiritual capital of the Italian peninsula, switching his subject matter to street-life and young boys.
In 1595 Caravaggio's talent catches the eye of cardinal Francesco Del Monte, who subsequently becomes his first patron. Caravaggio's three paintings on the life of St Matthew cause a sensation: never before has a saint, let alone an apostle, been shown like this. (calling, inspiration, martyrdom) After this succès fou, Caravaggio takes all his subjects from the New Testament.
Caravaggio's life is as turbulent as his personality. He has many run-ins with the law and is arrested on several occasions. In 1606 a bet over a game of tennis leads to an argument, at which point Caravaggio draws his sword and kills his opponent. He flees to Naples, intending to take the long way home to Rome - where friends are lobbying for his rehabilitation - via Malta and Sicily. On his wanderings, he produces several masterpieces, such as The Beheading of St John the Baptist, which he creates in Malta. He dies before reaching Rome, probably of pneumonia, in Porto Ercole. Several days after his death word arrives of papal absolution.
Caravaggio's influence is widespread: outside Italy, he inspires painters as diverse as Georges de La Tour and members of the Utrecht School, e.g. Gerrit van Honthorst – artists who in their turn are later to influence Rembrandt.
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| 1592–93, Boy Peeling Fruit |
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| 1593, Boy with a Basket of Fruit |
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| 1593, Young Sick Bacchus |
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| 1593-94, Bacchus |
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| 1594, Cardsharps |
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| 1595, Musicians |
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| 1595, Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy |
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| 1596, Basket of Fruit |
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| 1596, Boy Bitten by a Lizard |
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| 1596, Lute Player |
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| 1596-97, Medusa |
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| 1597, Fortune Teller |
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| 1597, Penitent Magdalene |
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| 1597, Rest on the Flight into Egypt |
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| 1598, Judith Beheading Holofernes |
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| 1598, Martha and Mary Magdalene |
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| 1598, Portrait of Maffeo Barberini |
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| 1598, Sacrifice of Isaac |
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| 1598, Saint Catherine of Alexandria |
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| 1599, David and Goliath |
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| 1599, Narcissus |
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| 1599, The Calling of St Matthew (detail) |
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| 1599-1600, The Calling of Saint Matthew |
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| 1600, John the Baptist |
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| 1600, Martyrdom of Saint Matthew |
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| 1601, Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus |
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| 1601, Crucifixion of Saint Peter |
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| 1602, Amor Victorious |
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| 1602, John the Baptist |
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| 1602, Sacrifice of Isaac |
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| 1602, St Matthew and the Angel |
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| 1602, Supper at Emmaus |
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| 1602, Taking of Christ |
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| 1603, Crowning with Thorns |
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| 1604, St John the Baptist |
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| 1605, Portrait of Pope Paul V |
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| 1605, Christ on the Mount of Olives |
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| 1605, Saint Jerome Writing |
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| 1605, Still Life with Fruit on a Stone Ledge |
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| 1606, Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy |
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| 1606, Supper at Emmaus |
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| 1607, Crowning with Thorns |
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| 1607, Crucifixion of Saint Andrew |
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| 1607, Judith and Holofernes |
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| 1607, Salome with the Head of John the Baptist |
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| 1608, Portrait of Fra Antionio Martelli |
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| 1609, Salome with the Head of John the Baptist |
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| 1610, The Denial of Saint Peter |
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| 1610, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula |
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