Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi RomanStrolls, Inc. Rome tours Italy tours

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi in Rome
(Exclusive tour of Essential Rome)

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This is the second of a series of specialized guided Rome tours designed for people who want to deepen their experience of the arts and the artists of the Eternal City. Our Caravaggio Rome tours introduce you to the masterpieces of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Caravaggio, byname of Michelangelo Merisi, took his models from the streets of Rome and painted them realistically. Caravaggio is the Italian painter whose revolutionary technique of chiaroscuro (light and shadow), called tenebrism, or dramatic, selective illumination of form out of deep shadow, became a hallmark of his painting.

Michelangelo Merisi was born in Caravaggio near Bergamo in northern Italy in 1571 of a family of high rank. In 1592, he was already in Rome where he began to know people in the arts. He started his Roman career by painting flowers and fruit in an intimate manner, such as his "Boy with a Basket of Fruit". As his talent became known, he received many commissions particularly from Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte. His "Fortune Teller" and "Crucifixion of Saint Peter", "Conversion on the Way to Damascus" and paintings in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, can be seen in Rome. Caravaggio broke away from the style of Mannerism -- artists imitating the "manner" of other earlier artists of the Renaissance. Caravaggio was most influential in the birth of the Baroque in the visual arts in Rome.
As his fame grew, Caravaggio found himself increasingly in trouble with the law. Caravaggio spent much of his life evading the consequences of his violent temper.
In 1600 he was accused of assault by a fellow painter, and the following year he wounded a soldier. In May 1605 he was seized for misuse of arms, and on July 29 he had to flee Rome for a time because he had wounded a man in defense of his mistress. Later in Rome, during a furious brawl over a disputed score in a game of tennis, Caravaggio killed a man.

Caravaggio fled Rome for places of hiding and eventually reached Naples. He then fled to Malta where he was received as a celebrated artist and was made a "Knight of Justice". Caravaggio worked hard and completed several works but because of new misdeeds, he was again imprisoned. He escaped to Sicily and sought Pope Paul V's pardon, but the pardon arrived from Rome three days after his death in Porto Ercole. Caravaggio died of pneumonia on July 18, 1610.

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