The great artist Michelangelo Merisi, known to us as Caravaggio, suffered many troubles and misadventures. Fate was not kind to him. Either because of his temperament, hot temper, lifestyle, or because of his talent, the inclinations of which were already noticeable by the age of eleven.
He was born, according to some sources, on September 28, 1571 in Lombardy, in northern Italy in the small town of Caravaggio, in the family of a wealthy architect of the local marquises, Signor Fermo Merisi. In 1577 he dies of the plague. In 1584, the boy was sent to Milan to study art with the then quite famous artist Simone Peterzano from Bergamo, who promised to teach him by the age of fifteen.
In 1590 his mother dies. Having shared with his brother the inheritance left after the death of his parents, which allowed Michelangelo to live comfortably for several years, in 1592 he left hometown. Addiction to gambling, noisy drunken companies soon shook his well-being, and he ends up in Rome without money, hungry and ragged. Day after day, he survives by working on unassuming crafts in the workshop of a certain Lorenzo
Siciliano. Certainly, young artist Having already shown the ability to do something better, this state of affairs could not suit him. Disappointments and poverty lead Caravaggio to illness; he ends up in a hospital for the poor. After recovery, Giuseppe Cesari d'Arpino takes him to his workshop. He is well versed in the preferences of customers, knows the market conditions, is quite resourceful and always has clients. Need briefly retreats from Caravaggio.
But then disaster strikes again. The artist is hit by a horse and ends up in the hospital again. After recovery, Caravaggio decides to work independently. At this time, the most famous paintings his first period of creativity. “Fortune Teller”, “Rest on the Flight to Egypt”, “Penitent Magdalene”, “Young Man Bitten by a Lizard”.
But, despite the fact that with these works he declared himself as a talented artist, the public remains indifferent to him. And only by the will of fate, several works end up with the art connoisseur Cardinal Francesco del Monte, who takes him into his service with quite a decent salary.
According to contemporaries, the artist’s patron was not distinguished by piety and chastity. “Women were never invited to his feasts, but young boys dressed in women’s clothing danced there.” Well, since Caravaggio directly depended on the wishes of the customer, eroticism with a homosexual inclination also appeared in his paintings.
Unfortunately, very little reliable information has survived about Caravaggio. He was not married, but he was not indifferent to the female sex. “The minx living in the Banca area”, “Laura and her daughter and her daughter Isabella, because of whom the trial arose”, “Maddalena, wife of Michelangelo, who lives near Piazza Navona”, broken windows jealous husband- all this is only from small notes of biographers, informants observing progressive trends by order of the Inquisition artistic life those years.
Thanks to Cardinal del Monte, Caravaggio receives his first major commission for the Contarelli Chapel of the Roman Church of San Luigi dei Francesca, “The Calling of the Apostle Matthew” and “The Martyrdom of the Apostle Matthew.” This certainly affected his authority; the artist began to receive prestigious orders.
In his works, Caravaggio always had a passion for painting from life. He carefully recorded every detail, trying to bring it closer to the original. It was Caravaggio who introduced a new genre for Rome - still life as such. If from it genre works remove be it human figures, fruits, cutlery, dinner leftovers, musical instruments, all these details still continue to live their own lives, representing an almost independent center of attraction. In Caravaggio’s penchant for naturalism, there was only one desire - to reflect the object, setting, and characters as accurately as possible, up to the use of a mirror as a screen for transmitting images and a powerful light flux in the modeling of objects, independent of the retina. Using harsh chiaroscuro, which was previously not welcomed by Renaissance masters, Caravaggio achieves extraordinary tension in the freeze frame of his works. At the same time, it is very difficult to determine what is more important: the mirror or the light, which shines like a spotlight on the most significant areas of the body, precisely pointing the viewer to the essence of the idea for which the canvas was conceived. Caravaggio's naturalism is not a soulless clone, but a visual transmission of internal emotions happening here and now. The images of his heroes do not fit into the idealized standards of the then dominant movements of mannerism and academicism. He writes them from real ordinary people from the crowd, regardless of the plot of the picture.
But in Rome what was required was not resemblance to nature, but sublimity and piety of plots and actions, and certainly not the earthiness of holy characters. Therefore, the church very often did not accept Caravaggio's works. He made new works based on the customer’s canons. And the rejected paintings were acquired by collectors who knew a lot about painting. Church functionaries quite often rejected his paintings. Caravaggio was becoming a scandalous artist. Michelangelo's popularity grew. And in 1604, rumors about him spread throughout Northern Europe.
Along with the artist’s fame, the cases of his participation in scandalous incidents also increased. The traits of his character as a hot-tempered, self-centered person living one day at a time became more and more apparent. One of the informants observing the trends in artistic life of those years wrote about Caravaggio: “His disadvantage is that he does not pay constant attention to work in the workshop - after working for two weeks, he indulges in a month of idleness. With a sword at his side and a page behind his back, he moves from one gambling house to another, always ready to get into a quarrel and fight hand-to-hand, so it is very unsafe to walk with him.”
Frequent trips to a tavern with friends, throwing a tray in the waiter's face, noisy antics at night, clashes with rivals, broken windows from a jealous owner of the house, carrying weapons without permission, insulting the police, days spent in jail - all this created his reputation in the eyes of authorities as an unreliable person.
In May 1606, during a quarrel, Caravaggio killed Ranuccio Tommasoni. The artist himself was wounded and taken out of Rome by friends. The court sentenced him to death penalty, and a reward was offered for his capture.
In 1607 he moved to live in Malta. There, in 1608, the artist became a knight of the Order of Malta. And again a quarrel arises with the noble knight whom he wounded. Then prison, escape, expulsion from the knightly order, Sicily. Caravaggio learns that the knight he wounded sent assassins to him. The artist returns to Naples, he is haunted by fear, he even sleeps with a dagger. But in the fall of 1609, the mercenaries, having overtaken Caravaggio on the threshold of the tavern, stabbed him in the face with daggers.
Tired of all the misadventures, the artist dreams of returning to Rome. But the death sentence has not yet been abolished. He hears rumors that thanks to influential patrons, including Cardinal Gonzago, the abolition of the death sentence will soon be signed. From Naples he goes to Port Ercole to wait there for more definite news. But even here, already in last time, misfortunes befall him. He is mistaken for a bandit and is arrested, but is then released. In order to return his things left in the weather vane, he returns to the shore, infected with malaria, falls ill, and on July 18, 1610, at the age of 37, dies, never having learned that on July 31, the papal rescript of Caravaggio announced an amnesty.
Caravaggio - biography
Great Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born on September 29, 1571 in Milan. In 1576, his father died of the plague, and his mother and children moved to Caravaggio, a town not far from Milan. Michelangelo lived here until 1591. The first genre scenes and portraits written in Milan have not survived.
Michelangelo had a hot temper. Fights and imprisonment became his life's companions. In 1591, the artist was forced to flee from Milan to Venice and then to Rome.
Here Caravaggio (as he began to be called, as was customary among artists, after his place of birth) met prominent artists and patrons of the arts, for example, Jan Bruegel the Velvet, and also studied the works of Leonardo, Giorgione and Titian. The first painting that has come down to us by Caravaggio himself is “A Boy Peeling Fruit” (1593).
Having almost died of a fever (1593), Caravaggio creates a possibly autobiographical painting, “The Sick Bacchus.” In the same year he painted his first multi-figure paintings, contrasting degenerating mannerism and emerging academicism with living realism. Caravaggio's heroes are people from the street crowd, beautiful and cheerful. In 1594-96, Caravaggio experienced a fruitful period, working for his patron, the enlightened Cardinal Francesco del Monti, at his villa (many paintings from that time have survived to this day).
Despite his outstanding successes, in 1596 Caravaggio was refused admission to the Academy of St. Luke. In the same year, he created the first pure still life in the history of Italian painting, “Fruit Basket.”
In subsequent years, the artist receives many orders to decorate churches, but not all customers are satisfied with the completed work.
In 1601, Caravaggio finally rented his own workshop and began to have students. His Entombment (1603) was copied by many artists (including the great Rubens).
Caravaggio alternated the creation of masterpieces with wild life, fights, and imprisonment. On May 26, 1606, Caravaggio was accused of killing a man in a fight. Declared an outlaw, the artist fled to Naples, then to Malta and continued to paint. His life here is full of adventures (in 1608 he even becomes a Knight of the Order of Malta), but his health was already undermined. In the town of Porto d'Ercole, Caravaggio dies of fever on July 18, 1610. The papal decree of pardon was published after his death.
Caravaggio - the great reformer European painting, founder of 17th century realism. His method is characterized by a sharp opposition of light and shadow.
The importance of Caravaggio turned out to be unheard of, because none other than him was the first in history European art proclaimed the essence artistic images vitally specific phenomena, people in their characteristic activities, things that surround them in reality. The innovation of Caravaggio's concept lay in the brutal directness with which painting became a literal reproduction of life. Moreover, the creative attitudes of the master, as well as his many followers in different European countries, the so-called “Caravaggists,” did not change even when they turned to religious subjects.
Caravaggio's influence on all subsequent art is so enormous that there is simply nothing to compare it with: even the influence of Jan van Eyck, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian and Michelangelo was not so comprehensive. If we name at least a few names of those who experienced it significantly or even decisive influence, comments will already be unnecessary: Ribera, Zurbaran, Velazquez and Murillo in Spain, Rubens and Jordaens in Flanders, Rembrandt and Vermeer in Holland, Georges de La Tour, the Lenain brothers, and partly even Poussin in France. In Italy itself in the 17th century, there was, it seems, not a single painter who did not become a “Caravaggist” to one degree or another.
Art was no longer focused primarily on the ideal, but saw in nature, as in life itself, the simultaneous presence of opposite principles. In this sense, the aforementioned “Fruit Basket” by Caravaggio became very indicative, where, along with ripe and juicy fruits and leaves, there are also rotten and withered ones, as a result of which the picture becomes not a proud statement of nature and life, but a sad reflection on the essence of our existence...
The outstanding Italian artist Caravaggio (1571-1610) is known not only for being the founder of realism in painting. The fact is that at sunset it arose, the most prominent representative of which was Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (not to be confused with).
Portrait of Caravaggio by Ottavio Leoni, 1621
If you like Interesting Facts, Then short description the life of a brilliant master with his incredible adventures, will definitely bring you pleasure.
It must be said right away that Caravaggio’s paintings truly impress even those who are not good at art. The fact is that the artist used the “chiaroscuro” technique, which consists of a sharp contrast of light and shadow. It is due to this technique of the maestro in a special way emphasized the emotions and experiences of his characters.
An interesting fact is that Caravaggio, during his short life (he lived only 38 years), did not leave a single drawing or sketch. In other words, he realized all his ideas, even the most complex ones, immediately on canvas, without any preliminary stages.
Young Caravaggio
Born in the small Italian town of Caravaggio, which is located near, Michelangelo Merisi at the age of 13 years go by to Peterzano's workshop. There he became acquainted with the art of painting, and by the age of 20, the young artist Caravaggio showed great promise.
However, his extremely harsh and hot-tempered nature prevents him from building a career. Constant scandals, fights and imprisonments accompanied him throughout his life. From Milan he was forced to urgently leave for Rome after card game ended in scandal and murder.
Life in Rome
A very noteworthy observation here is that of the Italian priest Borromeo, who, having met Caravaggio, described him as follows:
“An uncouth and rude man, always wandering the streets and sleeping wherever he can, he paints vagabonds, beggars and drunkards, and seems quite happy man».
Caravaggio's first works were made under the noticeable influence of and. An interesting fact is that it was in Rome that Michelangelo Merisi received the nickname “Caravaggio” after the name of the city in which he was born. Since then, in art he has been known by this name.
After another fight, Caravaggio ends up in prison again, where he meets Giordano Bruno. In 1593, for several months he was on the verge of life and death, as he became seriously ill with Roman fever (malaria). During his recovery, he painted his first self-portrait. The painting is called “Sick Bacchus”.
Most of all, his paintings on biblical subjects brought him fame. It is not clear how Caravaggio managed to combine them with a wild life and constant scandals. He indiscriminately attacked with a sword anyone who spoke ill of his works of art.
Flight from Rome
In 1606, the maestro was declared outlaw by Pope Paul V (his portrait is below). This meant that anyone could not only kill him, but also receive a reward for it. Of course, dad had reasons for such a serious decision.
It so happened that during the ball game a fight broke out between the two companies. One was led by Caravaggio, and the other by Ranuccio Tomassoni. Ultimately, Ranuccio Tomassoni was killed and the artist was accused of the crime.
Having gone on the run, he hides in the Colonna estate, where he paints the gloomy paintings “St. Francis in Thought” and “Supper at Emmaus.”
After that, he moves to Naples, and a year later - to. But then he again finds himself involved in some kind of scandal, and again ends up in prison. He was put in a so-called stone bag, but he somehow managed to escape from there.
In 1608, Caravaggio sailed to Sicily to the city of Syracuse. Moving around Sicilian cities, he painted his famous paintings.
Death and pardon
After several years, Cardinal Gonzaga begins to negotiate with Pope Paul V to pardon Caravaggio. Hoping for a positive decision, the artist plans to secretly move closer to Rome.
However, sailing from Naples, he disappears, and nothing is known about his further fate. There is only information, which not all historians trust, that he was allegedly detained in the Palo fortress, and then went on foot to Porto Ercole.
It was there that on July 18, for unknown reasons, the master died at the age of 38. And on July 31, a decree pardoning Caravaggio was published. In parallel with it, a message about the artist’s death was also published.
As we have already said, Caravaggio had colossal influence on art in general, and on the creativity of many outstanding artists in particular. However, his violent and incredibly hot-tempered character became the talk of the town.
Eyewitnesses say that when he painted the painting “The Raising of Lazarus,” he needed real images. Being a fan of his work, he ordered that a recently killed man, who had been dug out of his grave, be brought into the workshop.
Two hired sitters flatly refused to pose with the corpse, which had begun to decompose. Without thinking twice, Caravaggio pulled out a dagger and forced them to submit to his own will.
Paintings by Caravaggio
Below are the most famous paintings by Caravaggio. Pay attention to their amazing realism, stunning play of light and shadow, as well as accuracy in conveying the slightest emotions. It seems that the heroes of the plots live their lives, and only froze for a moment.
"Rounders" (1594) 
"Boy with a Basket of Fruit" 
"Sick Bacchus" (fragment) (1593) 
"Fortune Teller" (1594) 
"Fruit Basket" (1596) 
"Lute Player" (Hermitage) 
"The Calling of the Apostle Matthew" (1600) 
"The Boy Bitten by a Lizard" 
"Cupid the Winner", (c. 1603) 
Portrait of Pope Paul V by Caravaggio. The same dad who outlawed the artist. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio(Italian Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio; September 29 ( 15710929 ) , Milan - July 18, Grosseto, Tuscany) - Italian artist, reformer of European painting of the 17th century, one of the greatest masters of the Baroque. One of the first to use the “chiaroscuro” style of painting - a sharp contrast of light and shadow.
Biography
Son of the architect Fermo Merisi and his second wife Lucia Aratori, daughter of a landowner from the town of Caravaggio, near Milan. My father served as manager in the house of Francesco I Sforza, Marquis de Caravaggio, the owner of this town. Michelangelo's father died of the plague when he was five years old. Studied from 1584 with Simone Peterzano in Milan, but for some unknown reason ended his studies ahead of schedule. Then he disappears from sight for four years and is declared poor and hungry in Rome.
At first, Caravaggio was in great need. He entered the workshop of the minor artist Cesari d'Arpino, who was in great fashion in Rome. Under the contract, Caravaggio painted images of flowers and fruits. Later, it was he who would discover the genre of still life for Italian painting. Sometimes the artist Antiveduto Gramatica shared his commissions with Caravaggio. Borromeo, who met Caravaggio during his Roman life, described him as “an uncouth man, with rude manners, always dressed in rags and living anywhere. Drawing street boys, tavern regulars and pitiful tramps, he looked like a completely happy person” and admitted that he did not like everything in the artist’s paintings. Having saved some money, Caravaggio painted the painting “Rounder”, which Cardinal del Monte saw and invited the artist to become a house artist on his estate.
In 1591, Caravaggio moved to the palace of his patron, Cardinal del Monte, where he worked for about five years. One of the admirers of Caravaggio's paintings and a collector of his paintings was the Marquis Vincenzo Giustiniani.
"Bacchus" is one of early paintings Caravaggio, which supposedly depicts his partner Mario Minniti
In 1595, despite recommendations given by Gentileschi, Gramatica, Prospero Orsi, Caravaggio was refused admission to the Academy of St. Luke. The main opponent of Caravaggio's admission to the Academy was its president, Federico Zuccaro. He believed that the effects of Caravaggio's paintings were a consequence of the extravagant nature, and the success of his paintings owed only to their "shade of novelty", which was highly valued by wealthy patrons.
Caravaggio became addicted to gambling at an early age, incurred debts, and, in addition, had a hot temper, which more than once brought him trouble, and was often detained by the Roman police, but his patrons protected him until he crossed the line.
He never learned that he had been granted complete forgiveness in Rome.
Early period
Caravaggio's dramatic life, full of adventure, corresponded to the rebellious spirit of his creative nature. Already in the first works completed in Rome: “Little sick Bacchus” (c. 1593-94, Rome, Borghese Gallery), “Boy with Fruit” (c. 1593, ibid.), “Bacchus” (c. 1593, Uffizi) , “Divination” (c. 1594, Louvre), “Lute Player” (c. 1595, Hermitage), he acts as a bold innovator, he challenged the main artistic directions of that era - mannerism and academicism, contrasting them with the harsh realism and democracy of his art. Caravaggio's hero is a man from the street crowd, a Roman boy or youth, endowed with rough sensual beauty and the naturalness of a thoughtless, cheerful existence; Caravaggio's hero appears either in the role of a street merchant, a musician, a simple-minded dandy, listening to a crafty gypsy, or in the appearance and with attributes ancient god Bacchus.
These inherently genre characters, filled with bright light, brought close to the viewer, depicted with emphasized monumentality and plastic palpability.
Without shying away from deliberately naturalistic effects, especially in scenes of violence and cruelty (“Sacrifice of Isaac”, c. 1603, Uffizi; “Judith and Holofernes”, c. 1596, Coppi collection (now exhibited at Palazzo Barberini), Rome), Caravaggio in a number of other paintings of the same period he finds a deeper and more poetically significant interpretation of the images (“Rest on the Flight into Egypt,” c. 1595 and “Penitent Mary Magdalene,” c. 1596, Doria-Pamphilj Gallery, Rome).
Mature creativity
The period of creative maturity (the end of the 16th - the first decade of the 17th centuries) opens a cycle of monumental paintings dedicated to St. Matthew (1599-1602, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Contarelli Chapel, Rome). In the first and most significant of them - “The Calling of the Apostle Matthew” - having transferred the action of the Gospel legend to a semi-basement room with bare walls and a wooden table, making it participants from the street crowd, Caravaggio at the same time built an emotionally strong dramaturgy of the great event - the invasion the light of Truth into the very depths of life. “Funeral light” penetrating into a dark room after Christ and St. entered there. Peter, highlights the figures of people gathered around the table and at the same time emphasizes the miraculous nature of the appearance of Christ and St. Peter, his reality and at the same time unreality, snatching from the darkness only part of the profile of Jesus, the thin hand of his outstretched hand, the yellow cloak of St. Peter, while their figures dimly emerge from the shadows.
In the second picture of this cycle - “The Martyrdom of St. Matthew" - the desire for a more bravura and spectacular solution prevailed. The third picture is “St. Matthew and the Angel" (later kept in the Emperor Frederick Museum in Berlin and destroyed during the Second World War) - was rejected by customers who were shocked by the rude, common-spirited appearance of the apostle. In the altar paintings “The Martyrdom of St. Peter" and "The Conversion of Saul" (1600-1601, Santa Maria del Popolo, Cappella Cerasi, Rome) Caravaggio finds a balance between dramatic pathos and provocative naturalistic details. It even more organically combines the emphatically plebeian appearance of the characters and the depth dramatic pathos in the mournful and solemn altar paintings “Entombment” (1602-1604, Vatican Pinacoteca) and “Assumption of Mary” (1605-1606, Louvre), which aroused the admiration of young artists, including Rubens (at his insistence, “Assumption of Mary”, rejected by customers, was purchased by the Duke of Mantua).
Pathetic intonations are also characteristic of the altarpiece “Seven Acts of Mercy” (1607, Monte della Misericordia, Naples), executed in exile, written with enormous pictorial energy. IN latest works- “The Execution of John the Baptist” (1608, La Valletta, Cathedral), “The Burial of St. Lucia" (1608, Santa Lucia, Syracuse), "Adoration of the Shepherds" (1609, National Museum, Messina) is dominated by the vast night space, against the background of which the outlines of buildings and figures appear dimly characters. The art of Caravaggio had a huge influence on the work of not only many Italians, but also leading Western European masters 17th century - Rubens, Jordaens, Georges de Latour, Zurbaran, Velazquez, Rembrandt. Caravaggists appeared in Spain (José Ribera), France (Trofime Bigot), Flanders and the Netherlands (Gerrit van Honthorst, Hendrik Terbruggen, Judith Leyster) and other European countries, not to mention Italy itself (Orazio Gentileschi, his daughter Artemisia Gentileschi).
Caravaggio's devotion to realism sometimes went very far. Such an extreme case is the story of the creation of the painting “The Raising of Lazarus.” As is known from the Bible, this happened on the third day after the burial. To achieve authenticity, Caravaggio ordered two hired workers to dig up the recently buried body and hold it while he painted. Unable to bear the terrible smell, the workers abandoned the corpse and wanted to run away. But Caravaggio, threatening them with a knife, forced them to continue holding the corpse until he finished the job.
Films about Caravaggio
- “Caravaggio” is a 1986 British film directed by Derek Jarman based on the life of the artist, with Nigel Terry playing the adult Caravaggio
- "Caravaggio" 2007, directed by Angelo Longoni in leading role Alessio Boni
Notes
Literature
- Makhov A. Caravaggio. - M.: Young Guard, 2009. - (Life wonderful people). - ISBN 978-5-235-03196-8
- Elizabeth Lundy Secret life great artists. - M., 2011. - ISBN 978-5-98697-228-2
- Shapiro Yu.G., Persianova O.M., Mytareva K.V., Arane N.M. Fifty short biographies masters Western European art XIV–XIX centuries. - L.: Aurora, 1971.
Links
| Caravaggio | |
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Young man with a basket of fruit (1593) · Little Sick Bacchus (1593-1594) · Concert (1595) · Lutenist (1595) · Judith and Holofernes (1599) · Calling of the Apostle Matthew (1599) · Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (1599-1602) · Saint Matthew and the Angel (1599-1602) · Assurance of Thomas (1600-1602) · Martyrdom of Saint Peter (1600-1601) · Supper at Emmaus (1601) · Conversion of Saul (1601) · Taking Christ into custody (1602) · John the Baptist (1602) · Sacrifice of Isaac (1603) · John the Baptist in the desert (1603-1604) · Entombment (1604) · Supper at Emmaus (1606) · Prayer of Saint Francis (1606) · Seven Acts of Mercy (1607) · Beheading of John the Baptist (1608) · David and Goliath (1610) |
Categories:
- Personalities in alphabetical order
- Born on September 29
- Born in 1571
- Deaths on July 18
- Died in 1610
- Artists by alphabet
- Artists of Italy
- Baroque artists
- Paintings by Caravaggio
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The painting was created by the painter in 1608 on a well-known subject - the execution of John the Baptist. This final stage Caravaggio's creativity(real name Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio), when his canvases were completely immersed in the world […]
The painting was commissioned by the aristocratic Cavaletti family as an altarpiece for the family church chapel in Sant'Agostino in Rome. The painting was painted in two stages with a break due to a conflict with a notary who objected […]
In the 17th–18th centuries, the depiction of genre scenes became widespread in art, making it possible to capture the images of the participants from interesting angles, outlining the diverse experiences of the characters. Caravaggio himself made a significant contribution to the development of European household […]
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is considered the founder of realism in painting. After him, not a single sketch or drawing remained - Caravaggio immediately embodied all his ideas on canvas. The artist's life was very peculiar. […]
The artist turned to biblical subjects many times. It seemed that while working on his paintings he was looking for something very important for himself. The bright color distinction between the mundane and the higher in his paintings creates […]
Throughout his life, the artist sought answers to questions in biblical stories. Attacks of anger and intemperance more than once played a sad role in his wanderings and hard life. The older the artist became, the […]
This painting was commissioned from the artist by Cardinal Scipione Borghese. David and Goliath, based on biblical information, were heroes of antiquity. David was destined to become the king of the Jews, and Goliath was a giant – the Philistine. One […]
Caravaggio is rightfully considered not only the best master in the entire history of development artistic arts, but also one of the brightest and most talented representatives of such a style of drawing and displaying paintings as Baroque. A little […]
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio born in 1571 in Italy in Lombardy. It is still unknown where this outstanding man was born, nor the date of his birth. Scientists suggest that he could have been born in Milan, or in a small town near Milan - Caravaggio. Michelangelo was the eldest son in the family. He had three brothers and a sister, who was the youngest. Their father was a construction worker and had a good salary and education.
When the plague began in 1576, Michelangelo's family had to move from Milan back to Caravaggio. In 1577, his father died, and then some problems began in the family. Nothing else is known during this period about the biography of Michelangelo Merisi.
The next date, 1584, interrupted this period. Michelangelo became a student of the Milanese artist Simone Peterzano. After studying with this unjustly forgotten painter, Michelangelo was supposed to receive the title of artist, but unfortunately no supporting facts about this have survived.
In 1592, the Caravaggio family again experienced another tragedy - their mother died. After this incident, the entire inheritance of the parents was divided between the children. Michelangelo received a good share, which was enough to leave his hometown and move to Rome. According to some reports, Michelangelo did not just escape from Milan. Many biographers believe that he killed a man, or seriously injured him, so he needed to move.
During his first stay in the capital of Italy, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio had difficulty finding work, but soon he got an apprenticeship with Giuseppe Cesari, who was considered at that time one of best artists Italy. But their collaboration was short-lived. Caravaggio was hospitalized after being hit very hard by a horse. After his recovery, he decided to work on his own.
It was then that Cardinal Francesco del Moite met Michelangelo on his way. He came across several paintings by Caravaggio and really liked them. Moite was educated and cultured person, appreciated art and was friends with Galileo. In 1597, the cardinal took the young artist into his service, providing him with a good salary. So another 3 years passed from Michelangelo’s biography, and they were not in vain. The artist was noticed, and he began to receive more and more orders. It was at this time that he painted such paintings as “The Calling of the Apostle Matthew” and “The Martyrdom of the Apostle Matthew”, as well as “The Crucifixion of the Apostle Peter”.
Caravgio's contemporaries were amazed by his talent. He painted very realistically, his paintings were filled with drama and were very original. He painted contrary to the religious standards that existed at that time. Of course, there were also opponents of his work, who believed that he portrayed saints in a very down-to-earth way. Thus, his painting “St. Matthew and the Angel” was rejected by church ministers as unworthy. It was this painting that was acquired by the famous collector of that time, Marquis Vincenzo Giustiniani, who subsequently bought more than 15 paintings from Caravaggio. Michelangelo rewrote the painting rejected by the church.
By 1604, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio had become the most famous artist Italy of his time, but not only that, he was also known as the most scandalous artist, because heated debates always flared up around his paintings. But the name of Caravaggio was also associated with notoriety, the glory of a criminal. His name appeared more than 10 times on the list of those who broke the law with their careless antics. Of these, we can list such as carrying a bladed weapon without permission (Caravaggio carried a huge dagger with him), throwing a tray in the face of a waiter, breaking glass in the house. The artist was even in prison for some time. On May 28, 1606, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio killed a man. If earlier, when he was still living in his homeland, this fact was not confirmed, then this time it is known for certain. After a fight that arose while playing ball, this misfortune happened. Michelangelo had to flee. He had to spend the remaining 4 years of his life in exile.
At first he was located not far from Rome. He still hoped that he would be pardoned. Realizing that this was impossible, he went to Naples. And even there he found customers. After living for 9 months, he moved to Malta. In Malta, Caravaggio worked very productively, and for his services to the Order of Malta, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was knighted. But everything could not be so smooth; the artist’s temper made itself felt. After another skirmish with a high-ranking adviser to the order, Michelangelo was imprisoned, from which he escaped to Sicily.
By the end of the artist’s life, the authorities were no longer looking for him; now he had another danger - the revenge of the Hospitallers. In the fall of 1609, Michelangelo was seriously injured; his face was disfigured. In 1610, irony played a cruel joke on the artist; he went to prison, but by mistake! He was soon released. But he fell ill with malaria and died on July 18, 1610, at the age of 39.