Caravaggio
1571-1610 · Italian (Milan/Rome/Naples/Malta) · Baroque
Known for: Revolutionary painter who used dramatic lighting and street-level realism to make religious scenes shocking and visceral
Caravaggio invented modern dramatic lighting and painted religious scenes with gritty, street-level realism that scandalized the art world. He used prostitutes and street urchins as models for saints, working directly on canvas without preparatory drawings at astonishing speed.
His life was as violent as his art. He killed a man in a street brawl, fled Rome with a death sentence, was knighted in Malta, assaulted a fellow knight, escaped prison, and died under mysterious circumstances at 38.
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