Caravaggio

Caravaggio, born Michelangelo Merisi in 1571 in Milan and deceased in 1610 at Porto Ercole, was an influential Italian painter whose work helped define the Baroque style. He is renowned for his dramatic use of light and shadow, a technique called tenebrism, and for a naturalistic approach that depicted ordinary people and momentary, emotionally charged actions with stark realism.

Trained in Milan with Simone Peterzano, Caravaggio moved to Rome in the early 1590s, where he quickly attracted notable patrons. His early Roman works combined vivid realism with strong chiaroscuro, leading to popular and controversial paintings. Notable works include The Calling of Saint Matthew (c. 1599–1600) and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (1600) in the Contarelli Chapel, along with other canvases such as Saint Paul’s Conversion and dramatic scenes of religious martyrdom. He also produced genre subjects and portraits, often using everyday people as models, which contributed to his distinctive, down-to-earth realism.

Caravaggio’s career was marked by a volatile temperament and legal troubles, including a fatal duel in 1606 that forced him to flee Rome. He traveled to Naples, Malta, where he joined the Knights of Malta briefly, and later returned to Italy. He died in 1610, under circumstances that remain debated.

His legacy is vast: he shaped a generation of painters, giving rise to the Caravaggisti, and influencing artists across Europe. Caravaggio’s emphasis on psychological immediacy, naturalism, and dramatic illumination left a lasting imprint on Baroque art and the broader history of Western painting.