15 Caravaggio Facts For Kids About The Famous Italian Painter

Caravaggio, also known by the name Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, was a well-known Italian painter.

Caravaggio was a well-known painter, exhibiting realism, and later started to work with the painter Simone Peterzano. He grew up in Milan while he was born in Caravaggio, Lombardy, which is in Italy now.

Fermo Merisi, also called Fermo di Caravaggio, was the father of Caravaggio, and Lucia Aratori was his mother. He was born in September, 1571. Caravaggio died on July 18, 1610. The father of Michelangelo, Merisi, had a small workshop in Milan.

Caravaggio was more prominent toward the end of the Renaissance period. The work of Caravaggio led to the beginning of a new period called the Baroque period. He used the technique of foreshortening.

Most of the famous paintings by Caravaggio were controversial and also gained popularity at the same time. He has painted around 90 paintings.

A wave of Caravaggism started with all the painters who were influenced by his work. He was more active in Rome. The usage of tenebrism caused Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio to create a different modern effect on his work.

He incorporated the common or ordinary man into religious figures, which irritated many other painters and art historians. Some of Caravaggio's family members are believed to have died due to the plague in 1577.

It was really hard for the young boy to grow up and live with difficulties.

His father died when he was at such a young age, and facing the harsh society and observing them intently around him would have required a great deal of courage.

Caravaggio's work has influenced other painters, and Caravaggio's death at Porto Ecole, Tuscany, Italy was mysterious, and later different theories were given. Caravaggio, when on his route to Rome to return for the pardon of the Pope, suddenly fell ill, and later died in 1610.

Caravaggio's Life History

Caravaggio was the son of Fermo di Caravaggio and Lucia Aratori. He was born in 1571 and died in 1610.

Caravaggio was born in the autumn season. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is the complete name of this famous painter from Italy. When he was just six years old, some of his family members are believed to have died due to the plague of 1576.

Fermo Merisi, or Fermo di Caravaggio, was a normal stoneman and owned a small stonemason's shop. The father of Caravaggio was no doubt an artisan and was known for his work in the area.

The maternal grandfather of Caravaggio, Giovan Giacomo Aratori, was a surveyor of land and was an agent, along with the only person as a legal witness for the family of Sforza.

His maternal grandfather used to collect rent from people on behalf of other people. In 1576, the bubonic plague was stuck in Milan, and the father of Caravaggio also had a workshop in Milan.

So, the initial days of the painter were spent in Caravaggio and Milan. Caravaggio moved to Caravaggio Town when the bubonic plague killed almost one-fifth of the population. Caravaggio was saved, but the same is not true for some of his family members.

His father, along with his grandfather, died in 1577. When he was only six years old, he had lost everything.

His childhood was affected drastically when his mother passed away in the year 1584. When he was in his early teens, he worked with Simone Peterzano, who was a master from Milan. Despite the fact that he was a master at painting frescos, his student, Caravaggio, was never a master at it.

He is more specific to modern painting and tenebrism. Caravaggio died in September in Porto Ercole, Tuscany in the year 1610 at the young age of 38.

Who was Caravaggio influenced by?

Caravaggio was greatly inspired by Simon Vouet, Domenico Fetti, Peter Paul Rubens, and Bartolomeo Schedoni.

Simone's first painting, completed in 1573, was influenced by Tintoretto and Veronese. The paintings Simone produced at the household and community level of Garegnano are among his most well-known masterpieces. On the other hand, Peterzano is most recognized as Caravaggio's master. 

Cavaliere d'Arpino, also known as Giuseppe Cesari, was a Mannerism painter from Italy. Giuseppe Cesari was born in Rome and trained by Niccolo Pomarancio. Bernardino and Muzio, his sole apparent disciples, were Giuseppe Cesari's children. Caravaggio, who studied in his workshop from 1593-1594, was among his most famous students.

While working for Cesari, Caravaggio mostly depicted blossoms and vegetation. Early in his career, Cesari was a renowned ideological artist, as opposed to the naturalists, of whom Caravaggio was perhaps the most famous.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio employed tenebrism to produce a new contemporary impact in his work. Several other artists and art historians were upset by his incorporation of the common or average man into sacred figures.

Borromeo's lively, strikingly apparent art style, as a consequence, had a great impact on Caravaggio's works. He adapted their harsh architectural authenticity to his own distant and perhaps less direct painting style. His works are nearly always created in constrained areas, with communities acting out a tale as though in a theater.

Borromeo's impact can be seen in Caravaggio's ascetic small color scheme. He also emphasized the importance of economic hardship as well as modesty as essential holiness. In the early years of Caravaggio's life, he also visited Venice. According to Giovanni Pietro Bellori, who wrote about Caravaggio's life, Caravaggio was also heavily influenced by Giorgione's colors.

The master of Caravaggio also received his training in Venice and similarly encouraged his student or apprentice. Caravaggio's sophisticated work has the most compelling designs in Venetian artwork, for instance, Titian's Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence of Gesuiti, including its significant emphasis on sentient hardship and resounding tenebrism, as well as Tintoretto's works.

Caravaggio's painting style was one-of-a-kind, and Andrew Graham-Dixon, an art expert, has shared his insights into the artist's work. His talent for closely noticing the things around him was incredibly strong, so he generally painted the regular people around him.

He makes every effort to depict realism in his works. In 1592, Caravaggio is believed to have left his native Lombardy.

He sold a large portion of the land he had inherited from his parents. The early life of Caravaggio was full of turmoil, which forced him to live in Rome. Some believe that he was involved in certain brawls and was sentenced to death.

His career lasted only 13 years. Caravaggio used a canvas to create his paintings. Caravaggio, like Titian, did not use any preparatory sketches while painting.

Famous Artworks By Caravaggio

Caravaggio, the famous painter of Italy, is known for The Calling of Saint Matthew, The Musician, Head of the Medusa, Adoration of the Shepherds, David with the Head of Goliath, The Entombment of Christ, and many other Caravaggio works.

In 13 years, Caravaggio became one of the most controversial Italian painters. He made use of tenebrism, along with diagonal compositions and the depiction of common people. The Call of Saint Matthew is one such good example of tenebrism. It was a modern painting that used light to show the scene of a biblical scenario.

The Calling of Saint Matthew was started in 1599 and completed in 1600. Another painting by Caravaggio, from 1593, was an early piece of his work which at times is considered or assumed to be a self-portrait.

It was also a way for him to demonstrate his artistic abilities. The Crucifixion of Saint Peter was one of the most famous paintings by Caravaggio. It was made in 1601.

In this painting, there is a depiction of Saint Peter, who was believed to be one of the people to be crucified. In this painting, he used extreme diagonals for the formation of a composition that was left to the viewers' interpretation. Caravaggio's two paintings, Young Sick Bacchus and Crucifixion, showed the usage of diagonals in his work.

Caravaggio's Adoration of the Shepherds, completed in 1609, is also known as Madonna di Loreto. This painting showed how he made use of common people of the era around him to show the religious figures.

Other famous works by Caravaggio include the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, David with the Head of Goliath, the Basket of Fruit, and many more. In his painting, David with the Head of Goliath, the painting deciphers some other meaning rather than enjoying the victory.

The only painting that has a sign of Caravaggio in it is the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist.

What was special about Caravaggio's painting?

It was believed that Caravaggio's works were done with keen consideration, which also included that dramatic usage of chiaroscuro that was later known as tenebrism.

He made this approach more prominent in the kinds of style elements he depicted in his work. He was known as one of the most influential artists and most famous painters because of his unique method of making his modern paintings. He highlighted the main person in the bright light while covering the background with dark shadows.

Caravaggio's paintings were great examples of extreme realism. This work by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was criticized and disliked by many art historians. He was more realistic in his work than most famous painters because he could only draw out the things that he had seen in his life.

He declined the fact of the existence of angels as he never saw them, but at the same time, a few angel paintings were seen depicted in his work. So, the fact is not completely true.

Nonetheless, this scuttlebutt explains how the artist came to be regarded as an egocentric and unruly creative force of the Renaissance period's idealized 'bad boy'.

Although only for 13 years, Caravaggio’s career lasted but also gave him the recognition that this Italian painter, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, is listed among the major artists of Italy. Caravaggio’s paintings were very much different from the other paintings of the high Renaissance and mannerism.

Caravaggio’s style of painting was unique in itself, and art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon has also given his thoughts about Caravaggio's paintings. Caravaggio painted using a canvas.

Caravaggio, like Titian, painted without any prepared drawings. He depicted mostly the common people around him, as his skill at keenly observing the things around him was extremely good. He tries his best to show reality in his paintings.

He tried to show the common man the context of the subject of religion. He showed spirituality but did it through the usage of human characters.

In the Adoration of the Shepherds, an illustration, Caravaggio goes further to design dust and debris on the outsoles of the feet of bowing shepherds. The same work was also called the Madonna of Loreto. He was more focused on choosing a single idea or notion in his work than taking things collectively.

With his single depicted narrative, Caravaggio showed emotions. Caravaggio showed his main subject in light while he showed the rest in dark shadow or light. This was known as tenebrism, in which there was extreme use of dark along with white light.

Caravaggio frequently placed the subjects in hazy, gloomy, or barren surroundings and used melodramatic illumination to accentuate the expressive resonance of the setting.