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Caravaggio (1573-1610) was named after his birthplace in Northern Italy. His original name was Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. He became an orphan at age 11 and as a teenager went to Rome. At that time, he painted lighthearted scenes, but later he turned to more dramatic, religious subjects. His portrayal of Biblical figures lacked pureness. They appeared very coarse and edgy, with no mythological features. Caravaggio used raggedy-looking peasants for his models of saints and Apostles and is said to have painted one of his Virgins 'from a drowned prostitute fished out of the River Tiber.' His works were also coarsened by using chiaroscuros, which are made up of harsh lighting and dark shadows.
At age 24, Caravaggio was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco del Monte to paint for the church of San Luigi dei Francesi. The Calling of St. Matthew caused a scandal and the church rejected it. Many of his other works were rejected as well. Because of this Caravaggio became more well-known, but at the same time was envied and slandered. The only people to like him were rich connoisseurs. Caravaggio had a vicious temper to begin with and the taunting he received didn't help. In fact, he killed one man during a game of court tennis. In 1607, he fled to Naples, where his painting style became darker. Later he traveled to Malta, and then continued to flee throughout the rest of Europe. On July 18, 1610, Caravaggio died on a beach near Naples.
Carracchi extols him for 'grinding flesh instead of painting it'.
-Julia de Wolf Addison, The Art of the National Gallery (1905)
[I] could never suffer those who followed Caravaggio, perceiving that his style is the chasm and total destruction of the most noble and skilled art of painting. This is because, although the mere imitation of nature is in part praiseworthy, it was nevertheless destined to beget all the evils that have followed in the last forty years. Indeed, one sees imitations of the real, but not of the probable.
-Francesco Albani, A Treatise on Painting (17th century)
Flagellation of Christ
The Calling of Saint Matthew
The Seven Acts of Mercy
Saint Francis in Ecstacy
1595
The Cardsharps (I Bari)
1595
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