Caravaggio

• 1. Born In The Shadow Of Plague

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  Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio arrived in Milan on the 29th of September 1571. His father Fermo worked as a household administrator for the local marquess. The family moved to the town of Caravaggio in 1576 to escape a plague that ravaged their home city. Both his father and grandfather died there on the same day in 1577. This tragedy left his mother to raise five children in poverty. She died in 1584 while he began a four-year apprenticeship with Simone Peterzano. Peterzano was described in the contract as a pupil of Titian. Caravaggio appears to have stayed in the Milan-Caravaggio area after training ended. He may have visited Venice and seen works by Giorgione or Titian. He also became familiar with Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. Regional Lombard art valued simplicity and naturalistic detail over Roman grandeur.

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• 2. The Radical Eye And Dark Light

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  Caravaggio developed a radical naturalism that combined close physical observation with dramatic lighting. He called this technique tenebrism. It involved transfixing subjects in bright shafts of light while darkening shadows. He worked rapidly using live models without preliminary drawings. Most of his drawings appear not to have survived. He preferred working directly onto canvas with oil paints. His early works like Boy Peeling a Fruit show physical particularity. A professor of horticulture identified individual cultivars in Boy with a Basket of Fruit down to fungal scorch lesions. The Fortune Teller showed a boy having his palm read by a Romani girl stealing his ring. The Cardsharps depicted a naive youth falling victim to card cheats. Over 50 copies of this painting survived. Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte patronized him for intimate chamber pieces featuring adolescent models.

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• 3. A Life Of Brawls And Blood

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  On the 28th of November 1600 Caravaggio beat nobleman Girolamo Stampa da Montepulciano with a club. Episodes of brawling grew more frequent as he lived at Palazzo Madama. He was often arrested and jailed at Tor di Nona. In 1603 he was sued for defamation after writing offensive poems about painter Giovanni Baglione. Between May and October 1604 he faced multiple arrests for illegal weapons possession. He once threw a plate of artichokes in a waiter's face. On the 29th of July 1605 he seriously injured notary Mariano Pasqualone over Lena. On the 29th of May 1606 he killed Ranuccio Tomassoni during an argument. The circumstances remain unclear whether it was a brawl or duel. Many rumors claimed the fight stemmed from jealousy over Fillide Melandroni who modeled for him. Tomassoni was her pimp. An open bounty allowed anyone to carry out the death sentence legally. His patrons could no longer protect him from his wealthy family's outrage.

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• 4. Flight Through Naples Malta And Sicily

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  Caravaggio fled Rome moving south to Naples where Costanza Colonna Sforza maintained a palace. He became the most famous painter in Naples outside Roman jurisdiction. His connections led to commissions like The Seven Works of Mercy for the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia. After only a few months he left for Hospitaller Malta in 1607. Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt inducted him as a Knight. Caravaggio painted The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist measuring four meters wide. It remains the largest altarpiece he ever created. By late August 1608 he was arrested and imprisoned after another brawl with an aristocratic knight. He managed to escape and was expelled from the Order on the 1st of December 1608. He made his way to Sicily meeting old friend Mario Minniti in Syracuse. He set off on a tour from Syracuse to Messina and possibly Palermo. Contemporary reports depict bizarre behavior including sleeping fully armed and ripping up paintings at criticism.

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• 5. The Question Of Desire And Models

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  Since the 1970s scholars have debated homoeroticism in Caravaggio's works. Howard Hibbard observed the absence of erotic female figures in his entire career. Cabinet pieces from the Del Monte period are replete with full-lipped languorous boys who seem to solicit the onlooker. The model for Amor vincit omnia named Cecco lived with the artist in Rome. They may have been lovers. A connection with Lena is mentioned in a 1605 court deposition where she is described as Michelangelo's girl. She may have been courtesan Maddalena di Paolo Antognetti who named him intimate friend by her own testimony in 1604. Fillide Melandroni was rumored to be madly in love with him. She modeled for several important paintings. Honoré Gabriel Riqueti comte de Mirabeau wrote in 1783 contrasting Caravaggio's life with St Paul's writings. Baglione accused Caravaggio and friends of distributing scurrilous doggerel attacking him. The pamphlets were distributed by a certain Giovanni Battista a bardassa or boy prostitute shared by Caravaggio and Onorio Longhi.

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• 6. The Birth Of Baroque And Followers

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  Caravaggio put the oscuro into chiaroscuro making it a dominant stylistic element. His models included Mario Minniti and Francesco Boneri both fellow artists. His female models include Fillide Melandroni Anna Bianchini and Maddalena Antognetti all well-known prostitutes. Previous artists had included self-portraits as onlookers but Caravaggio innovated by including himself as a participant. The Supper at Emmaus depicts recognition of Christ by his disciples. In The Calling of Saint Matthew the hand points to himself while eyes fixed upon Christ say yes I will follow you. The first Caravaggisti included Orazio Gentileschi and Giovanni Baglione. Gentileschi ended up as court painter to Charles I of England. His daughter Artemisia Gentileschi was also stylistically close to Caravaggio. Rubens likely one of the first Flemish artists influenced by Caravaggio got to know his work during 1601 stay in Rome. He later painted an interpretation of Entombment of Christ and recommended Duke of Mantua purchase Death of the Virgin. Dutch artists like Hendrick ter Brugghen traveled to Rome becoming profoundly influenced before returning home.

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• 7. Death Mystery And Modern Revival

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  Caravaggio died on the 18th of July 1610 under uncertain circumstances while traveling from Naples to Rome. News reported he died of fever on his way north. A poet friend gave the 18th of July as date of death. Archaeologists conducted investigation in 2010 declaring high confidence they identified remains found in three crypts. Initial tests suggested lead poisoning from paints used at time. Later research published in 2018 concluded he died from sepsis caused by Staphylococcus aureus wound sustained in Naples brawl. Vatican documents released in 2002 support theory wealthy Tomassoni family had him hunted down killed as vendetta for murder of gangster Ranuccio Tomassoni. In 1920s art critic Roberto Longhi brought name once more to foreground placing him in European tradition. Ribera Vermeer La Tour and Rembrandt could never have existed without him. His reputation was doubly vulnerable to unsympathetic critiques of earliest biographers Giovanni Baglione and Gian Pietro Bellori who preferred classical-idealistic tradition of Bolognese school led by Carracci.

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