Caravaggio

Painter

Italy,Baroue

Born 1571- Died 1610

Also known as: Caravage, Michelangelo Merisi, Michael Angelo da Caravaggio, Michelangelo Amerighi da Caravaggio, Michel"Angelo da Caravaggio, Michelangelo Morigi da Caravaggio, Michiel Angelo di Caravajo, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaccio, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravach, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggi, Michel Angelo Caravaggio, Michelangelo Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravagio, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravege, Michel Ange Merisi de Carravage, and Michelangelo Merisi.

CARAVAGGIO, MICHELANGELO AMERIGHI (or MERIGI) DA (1569-1609), Italian painter, was born in thevillage of Caravaggio, in Lombardy, from which he received his name. He was originally a mason"s laborer, but his powerful genius directed him to painting, at which he worked with immitigable energy and amazing force. He despised every sort of idealism whether noble or emasculate, became the head of theNaturalisti (unmodified imitators of ordinary nature) in painting, and adopted a style of potent contrasts of light and shadow, laid on with a sort of fury, indicative of that fierce temper which led the artist to commit a homicide in a gambling quarrel atRome. To avoid the consequences of his crime he fled to Naples and to Malta, where he was imprisoned for another attempt to avenge a quarrel. Escaping to Sicily, he was attacked by a party sent in pursuit of him, and severely wounded. Being pardoned, he set out forRome; but having been arrested by mistake before his arrival, and afterwards released, and left to shift for himself in excessive heat and suffering from wounds and hardships he died of fever on the beach at Pontercole in 1609. His best pictures are theEntombment of Christ, now in theVatican;St Sebastian, in the Roman Capitol; a magnificent wholelength portrait of a grand-master of the Knights of Malta, Alof de Vignacourt, and his page, in the Louvre; and the BorgheseSupper at Emmaus.

The Raising of Lazarus

(1608 – 1609)
Oil on canvas
149.61 x 108.27 inches / 380 x 275 cm
Museo Nazionale, Messina

Madonna del Rosario

(1607)
Oil on canvas
143.50 x 98.23 inches / 364.5 x 249.5 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

The Entombment
(1602 – 1603)
Oil on canvas
118.11 x 79.92 inches / 300 x 203 cm
Pinacoteca, Rome, Vatican City

The Martyrdom of St. Matthew

(1599 – 1600)
Oil on canvas
127.17 x 135.04 inches / 323 x 343 cm
Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, Italy

The Crowning with Thrones

1602 - 1603
Oil on canvas
49.21 x 70.08 inches / 125 x 178 cm
Cassa di Risparmi, Prato, Italy

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas
(1601 – 1602)
Oil on canvas
42.13 x 57.48 inches / 107 x 146 cm
Sanssouci, Potsdam

The Calling of St. Matthew
(1599 – 1600)
Oil on canvas
127.17 x 135.04 inches / 323 x 343 cm
Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, Italy