
Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (/ ˌkærəˈvædʒioʊ /, US: /- ˈvɑːdʒ (i) oʊ /, Italian: [mikeˈlandʒelo meˈriːzi da (k)karaˈvaddʒo]; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life.
Where did Michelangelo and Caravaggio live?
Once Caravaggio, born Michelangelo Merisi, moved to Rome in 1592, he lived in the shadow of the Michelangelo—Michelangelo Buonarroti. Both were named after the archangel Michael, an angel among angels, who cast out the rebel spirits from Heaven.
What is Caravaggio's style of painting?
Rivaling Michelangelo, Caravaggio achieved something richer than a mere copy: harrowing realism. His canvases are of people with dirty feet, unwashed hair, tattered clothes—the same sinners of the Gospel—beaten down but brilliantly realized.
What happened to Caravaggio?
We know Caravaggio was born into a very honorable family in Milan and witnessed an outbreak of the bubonic plague in August 1576 that would claim the lives of his father and grandparents a year later—the grisliness of the disease a portent of the artist’s later work.
Why is Caravaggio important to gay culture?
Caravaggio's work has been widely influential in late-20th-century American gay culture, with frequent references to male sexual imagery in paintings such as The Musicians and Amor Victorious. British filmmaker Derek Jarman made a critically applauded biopic entitled Caravaggio in 1986.

Was Caravaggio named after Michelangelo?
Caravaggio was orphaned at a young age. The artist's real name was Michelangelo Merisi, though he was ultimately named after the town where he spent much of his early childhood, Caravaggio.
What was Caravaggio's real name?
Michelangelo Merisi da CaravaggioCaravaggio / Full nameBorn Michelangelo Merisi, Caravaggio is the name of the artist's home town in Lombardy in northern Italy. In 1592 at the age of 21 he moved to Rome, Italy's artistic centre and an irresistible magnet for young artists keen to study its classical buildings and famous works of art. The first few years were a struggle.
What is Michelangelo Caravaggio known for?
Caravaggio is best known for being a renowned yet controversial Italian painter of the late 1500s and early 1600s. Some of his best-known works of art are Sick Bacchus, The Musicians, Head of the Medusa, The Conversion of St. Paul, The Entombment of Christ, and The Beheading of St. John.
How many Caravaggio are there?
Only some 90 paintings by Caravaggio, who died in 1610 in his late 30s after a turbulent life, and was a master of using the chiaroscuro technique of lighting to make his subjects seem to come alive, previously were known to exist.
How much is a Caravaggio worth?
With an estimated value of up to $170 million, the painting was purchased by an anonymous foreign buyer just two days before it was due to be sold at auction.
Who painted the Sistine Chapel?
MichelangeloSistine Chapel ceiling / Artist2. Contrary to popular belief, Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel in a standing position. When they picture Michelangelo creating his legendary frescoes, most people assume he was lying down.
Who is the only artist who painted himself?
One of the most famous and most prolific of self-portraitists was Vincent van Gogh, who drew and painted himself more than 43 times between 1886 and 1889.
Which artists were influenced by Caravaggio?
Caravaggism had profound effects on the art world and artists that were directly and indirectly influenced by Caravaggio include Rubens, Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Velazquez and Bernini.
Who inspired Caravaggio?
According to Mancini, at about the start of 1595, after eight months in the Cesari workshop, he lodged with another priest: “Monsignor Fatin Petrigiani, who gave him the comfort of a room in which to live.” At about that time he met Prospero Orsi, a painter of grotesques, who (according to Bellori) encouraged ...
Can you buy a Caravaggio painting?
Caravaggio's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 5,549 USD to 123,873 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork. Since 2000 the record price for this artist at auction is 123,873 USD for Saint Jerome, sold at Dorotheum, Vienna in 2013.
What museum has the most Caravaggio paintings?
The Borghese Gallery is considered one of Rome's most famous museums, with many of Caravaggio's paintings.
What was Caravaggio last painting?
The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, Caravaggio's (1571–1610) last painting, is on exceptional loan from the Banca Intesa Sanpaolo in Naples and presented with The Met's The Denial of Saint Peter, also created by the artist in the last months of his life.
Did Caravaggio have any children?
He also died young, at the mere at of 38, and he had neither married nor left behind any known children.
Who is the only artist who painted himself?
One of the most famous and most prolific of self-portraitists was Vincent van Gogh, who drew and painted himself more than 43 times between 1886 and 1889.
What was Caravaggio's style?
BaroqueRenaissan...Baroque paintingCaravaggio/Periods
When was the artist Tintoretto born?
1518Tintoretto / Date of birth
Why did Caravaggio leave Milan?
Following his initial training under Simone Peterzano, in 1592 Caravaggio left Milan for Rome, in flight after "certain quarrels" and the wounding of a police officer. The young artist arrived in Rome "naked and extremely needy... without fixed address and without provision... short of money." During this period he stayed with the miserly Pandolfo Pucci, known as "monnsignor Insalata". A few months later he was performing hack-work for the highly successful Giuseppe Cesari, Pope Clement VIII 's favourite artist, "painting flowers and fruit" in his factory-like workshop.
What were the artists that Caravaggio influenced?
Artists heavily under his influence were called the " Caravaggisti " (or "Caravagesques"), as well as tenebrists or tenebrosi ("shadowists"). Caravaggio trained as a painter in Milan before moving in his twenties to Rome. He developed a considerable name as an artist, and as a violent, touchy and provocative man.
Why did Mario leave Caravaggio?
Caravaggio displayed bizarre behaviour from very early in his career. Mancini describes him as "extremely crazy", a letter of Del Monte notes his strangeness, and Minniti's 1724 biographer says that Mario left Caravaggio because of his behaviour. The strangeness seems to have increased after Malta. Susinno's early-18th-century Le vite de' pittori Messinesi ("Lives of the Painters of Messina") provides several colourful anecdotes of Caravaggio's erratic behaviour in Sicily, and these are reproduced in modern full-length biographies such as Langdon and Robb. Bellori writes of Caravaggio's "fear" driving him from city to city across the island and finally, "feeling that it was no longer safe to remain", back to Naples. Baglione says Caravaggio was being "chased by his enemy", but like Bellori does not say who this enemy was.
How did Caravaggio die?
Initial tests suggested Caravaggio might have died of lead poisoning —paints used at the time contained high amounts of lead salts, and Caravaggio is known to have indulged in violent behavior, as caused by lead poisoning. Later research concluded he died as the result of a wound sustained in a brawl in Naples, specifically from sepsis caused by Staphylococcus aureus.
Why was Caravaggio hospitalized?
In November, Caravaggio was hospitalized for an injury which he claimed he had caused himself by falling on his own sword. Caravaggio's gravest problem began on 29 May 1606, when he killed Ranuccio Tommasoni, a gangster from a wealthy family, in a duel with swords at Campo Marzio.
How many works of mercy did Caravaggio combine?
Caravaggio combined all seven works of mercy in one composition, which became the church's altarpiece. Alessandro Giardino has also established the connection between the iconography of "The Seven Works of Mercy" and the cultural, scientific and philosophical circles of the painting's commissioners.
What was Caravaggio's influence on Baroque art?
His paintings combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, which had a formative influence on Baroque painting. Caravaggio employed close physical observation with a dramatic use of chiaroscuro that came to be known as tenebrism.
