Decollazione di caravaggio biography

His intensely emotional realism and dramatic use of lighting had a formative influence on the Baroque school of painting.

Caravaggio malta

His innovative use of chiaroscuro inspired other artists such as Rembrandt and ushered in a new era of art. Caravaggio painted everything from Biblical themes to ordinary people he brought in off the street. Despite his turbulent personal life and frequent brushes with the law for fighting, he was in great demand as a leading artist of his day.

Aged six the family moved to the town of Caravaggio, but shortly after his father and grandfather died from a plague which swept through the region. Caravaggio was apprenticed to the Milanese painter Simone Peterzano, where he learnt his trade. He would have come into contact with the work of Leonardo da Vinci and other Lombardy painters.

In , after being involved in a disturbance with the law, Caravaggio left for Rome where he began to develop his career as an artist. In Rome, he found artists were in demand as the Catholic Church was seeking to use art as a means to counter the popularity of the Protestant Reformation. In , Caravaggio was contracted to paint suitable pictures for the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi.

The Chapel was quite dark so Caravaggio made use of these dark shadows to highlight the characters who shone with an almost divine light. Although an exceptional painter, he developed a wild reputation and would often get involved in drunken brawls. He would go from tavern to tavern drinking and gambling, with his sword by his side.

He would frequently start fights and was often taken to court by fellow drinkers. His court records give substantial amounts of information about his life.