Caravaggio

Driven visionary

Michelangelo Merisi, called Caravaggio after the place his parents come from, is born in Milan on September 29, 1571. He is apprentice to Simone Peterzano and settles in Rome after the latter’s death in 1590.

He finds an important patron in Cardinal Francesco Maria Bourbon Del Monte in 1595. Suddenly sales of his paintings in noble and clerical circles soar and his work is soon to be found in places like the Villa Borghese. And the artist is already well-known for his unique painting style. His dramatic light effects give rise to ultra-realistic scenes where light, not architecture, creates the structure of the painting.

Caravaggio is the first to break away from the strict painting techniques of the Renaissance. His success in Rome doesn’t last. Not only is his work distressing to many, his temperament is also unpredictable. In the night of May 28, 1606 he slays an adversary in an argument and is forced to flee.

Caravaggio, also badly injured, is sentenced to death in his absence, and is a hunted man for the rest of his life. Like his personal situation, his painting style alters considerably. Light serves to cast shadow rather than illuminate in his work. Caravaggio’s figures employ small, frugal gestures and blood, melancholy and death pervade all the paintings from the last 4 years of his life. It’s a late style like that of a 60 year old Rembrandt or a 70 year old Titian, although Caravaggio is only 39 when he dies.

After short, restless stays in Naples, Malta and Sicily, Caravaggio makes his way back to Rome in the hope of being accorded a pardon. He only makes it to Porto Ercole on the southern border of Toscana, where he is apprehended. Caravaggio dies on July 18, 1610 in unexplained circumstances.