Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi )

Michelangelo Merisi, also known as Caravaggio (Milan, 29 September 1571 - Porto Ercole, 18 July 1610). Trained between Milan and Venice and active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610, he is one of the most celebrated Italian painters of all time, renowned worldwide. His paintings, which combine an analysis of the human condition, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of light, had a strong formative influence on Baroque painting. A particularly restless spirit, he faced numerous vicissitudes during his short life. A crucial date in both the art and life of Merisi was 28 May 1606: after becoming responsible for a murder and being sentenced to death for it, he was forced to live in constant flight to escape capital punishment. His style directly or indirectly influenced painting in the centuries that followed, giving rise to a line of followers grouped within the movement known as Caravaggism.