Caravaggio

Caravaggio was the name used by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610), an influential Italian painter of the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Caravaggio was the name used by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610), an influential Italian painter of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He is known for dramatic chiaroscuro and tenebrism, naturalistic figures, and powerful religious scenes that shaped Baroque painting.

Life and career

Caravaggio was born Michelangelo Merisi and trained in Milan before moving to Rome, where he gained patronage and became highly influential. In the later years of his life, he worked in several Italian cities after fleeing Rome following a violent incident.

Style

His paintings are known for realism, dramatic staging, and tenebrism, a technique that uses deep shadow and selective light to heighten emotional intensity. He broke with idealized conventions by depicting saints and biblical figures as ordinary people.

Influence

Caravaggio had a major impact on European painting and is widely associated with the development of Baroque art. His approach influenced many later artists through its realism, theatrical composition, and use of light.

Notable works

Among his best-known paintings are Sick Bacchus, The Musicians, Head of the Medusa, The Conversion of St. Paul, The Entombment of Christ, and The Beheading of St. John.