Caravaggio takes his name from the town in which he was born in 1571 to a majordomo in a region of Italy known as Lombardy. The artist was born during the politically and spiritually tumultuous time of the Counter-Reformation, when the Catholic church was trying to regroup after the Protestant Reformation, and this historical context had an indelible impact on his personal and artistic development.

Caravaggio’s father died from the plague when the artist was only 6 years old. At age 13, Caravaggio was apprenticed to Milanese artist Peterzano, who instructed the young man in the basics of the craft, such as preparing pigments, mixing colors, and the rudiments of drawing, anatomy, and perspective. The unprecedented naturalism that marked Caravaggio’s mature style most likely had its roots here: there was a markedly naturalist trend in the art of the Lombardy region, and art historian Helen Langdon suggests that Peterzano may have encouraged the young Caravaggio to study from nature.

Still a young man, Caravaggio moved to Rome in 1593, where he spent his first years in utter poverty, painting for the open market. His career got a much-needed jumpstart when the influential art lover Cardinal del Monte took the young artist under his wing and became his first steady patron. Thanks to Cardinal del Monte’s influence, at age 24 Caravaggio was given his first major public commission of three paintings in the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi. This triptych of scenes from the life of Saint Matthew constitute a sort of first manifesto of naturalism, and attracted massive public attention as well as public and critical outcry due to their unprecedented naturalism and dramatic, smoky chiaroscuro (contrast between light and dark).

Caravaggio attracted an overwhelming share of virulent critics and enemies: socially, he was a belligerent, rude, violent and finally homicidal hot head, while artistically, he was a daring rule breaker who thwarted the classical rules of art. At the same time, however, his ability to depict religious scenes with an unprecedented approachability and the most human of feelings and sentiment provided invaluable inspiration for artists throughout the ages, including such masters as Rubens, Velasquez and Rembrandt.

A Dark Genius

Caravaggio has captured the imagination of generations of art lovers not only for his oeuvre, but for his scandalous, even sordid personal life: Caravaggio is undoubtedly one of the most enigmatic, intriguing, and rebellious personalities in the history of art.

Contemporary biographers as well as public records provide a fascinating portrait of this often disturbed artist. One notice from 1604 describes a Caravaggio who "after a fortnight's work…will swagger about for a month or two with a sword at his side and a servant following him, from one ball-court to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or an argument, so that it is most awkward to get along with him."

In 1606 Caravaggio accidentally killed a rival during a street fight and was forced to flee Rome to escape the death penalty, going first to Malta, than to Naples, continuing to get into physical disputes along the way. By 1610, during an attempt to return to Rome after a promise of a forthcoming pardon, Caravaggio fell mortally ill after only about a decade’s worth of an artistic career.

Artistic Innovation

Caravaggio was fortunate to be working during the Counter Reformation, when virtually the entire city of Rome underwent a construction project as the Catholic church renovated old churches and constructed new ones in an effort to attract Protestant converts back to the faith. All these new spaces needed lavish amounts of decoration, and artists were all too ready to fill that need.

In some respects, Caravaggio’s art was in keeping with the spirit of the Counter-Reformation: after the artificial decadence of Mannerism, the Church was seeking a simpler, more direct art that would have a maximum effect on the emotions. Caravaggio’s art was certainly natural and direct, but to an extreme that made the Church uncomfortable, as the artist portrayed sacred religious personages as real, common people, complete with bare feet and dirt under their fingernails. In addition to his radical naturalism, Caravaggio’s other major innovation was his intense, tenebristic chiaroscuro, which lent a dramatic, theatrical air to his paintings, setting the tone for the high drama of the Italian Baroque.