Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi, also known as Caravaggio, was born to Lucia Aratori and Fermo Merisi in the autumn of 1571, and he was most likely born in the town of Caravaggio in the diocese of Cremona. His exact date of birth isn’t known for sure, but based on his name, it’s believed that he was born on September 29th because that is the feast day of the Archangel Michael.

In the summer of 1576, the bubonic plague struck Milan, where Caravaggio and his family lived because his father owned a workshop there. He was about five years old at the time. By the autumn of the following year, he and his family moved back to the town of Caravaggio to escape the plague. Despite their efforts, Caravaggio lost his father, uncle, and paternal grandparents to the plague. On April 6th, 1584, Caravaggio became Simone Peterzano's apprentice at the age of twelve. Peterzano was an expert in fresco painting, but Caravaggio never mastered this skill. Instead, he mastered the art of swordsmanship during his youth. Other than this, not much is known about his youth.

According to legal documents from the late 1580s and 1590, Caravaggio sold some land he inherited from his family. Then, in 1592, he left his hometown and the region of Lombardy for Rome. According to Giulio Mancini’s early account of Caravaggio’s life, the artist may have had to leave his hometown because he was involved in an incident and murdered a policeman.

Like many aspiring artists during his time, Caravaggio went to Rome to look for work. There was a lot of competition between different groups and individual artists, and the slightest insult or injury would result in violence. Caravaggio had a violent temper and would get into many fights and disagreements, but his behavior was considered normal at the time.

He moved around a lot during his first years in Rome. At first, he lodged with a painter named Lorenzo Siciliano. During his time with Siciliano, according to a biographer named Bellori, Caravaggio painted heads for a groat apiece and produced three paintings daily. Mancini states that Caravaggio also lodged with a beneficed priest named Pandolfo Pucci, who wasn’t very hospitable to the artist. After a few months of being served nothing but salad in the evenings, Caravaggio left and moved into the studio of a painter named Antiveduto Grammatica. Then he moved to Cavaliere d’Arpino’s studio, where Caravaggio was limited to painting decorative borders and embellishments for d’Arpino’s work. After an accident that got Caravaggio sent to the hospital, he left and lodged with another priest before meeting Prospero Orsi, a painter who might have encouraged Caravaggio to paint directly for the market.

Caravaggio struggled financially throughout the mid-1590s, so he approached several different picture dealers. One of these picture dealers was Costantino Spata, who Caravaggio formed a working relationship with. Because of this, Caravaggio caught the attention of Francesco Cardinal Maria del Monte. Two paintings caught del Monte’s attention, both of them depicted a man being tricked out of his fortune. Not only did del Monte buy both of these paintings, but he also gave Garavaggio board and lodging, encouraged his development as a painter, and secured him numerous commissions.

It was during this time when Caravaggio was starting to become financially successful, but it was also when he first appeared in the criminal archives of Rome. In July of 1597, Caravaggio is mentioned in testimony by a barber in connection with an unsolved case involving a missing cloak and a dagger. He associated himself with several prostitutes, but one named Fillide Melandroni modeled for a few of Caravaggio’s paintings in the late 1590s, such as Martha and Mary Magdalene, Judith Beheading Holofernes, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria. It was with these works that Caravaggio perfected the method that brought him fame and notoriety. But his association with Melandroni fueled some animosity between him and her pimp, Ranuccio Tomassoni.

On July 23, 1599, Caravaggio signed a contract to paint two large paintings for the Contarelli Chapel of San Luigi dei Francesi. This was Caravaggio’s first major public commission, and these pieces would be the largest he had ever made, both paintings were about 10 feet square. The paintings were called The Calling of St. Matthew and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew, and they established Caravaggio as the most dynamic and original painter working in Rome.

Sometime during the first half of 1601, Caravaggio left del Monte’s household. He moved into the residence of the powerful Mattei family. He painted multiple pieces for Girolamo Cardinal Mattei and his brothers. Around this time, Caravaggio was commissioned to add an altarpiece to the side panels he painted for the Contarelli Chapel, and this would be the first time a patron was displeased with his art. The piece showed Matthew writing his gospel, but was depicted as a peasant. He had gnarled features, rough hands, and dirty feet, and he was illiterate. Caravaggio made a second version of the painting where Matthew is sitting in decorous light, wearing dignified robes while an angel gives him instructions on what to write.

Caravaggio was commissioned by Vincenzo Giustiniani to paint Amor Vincit Omnia, where Cupid is surrounded by attributes of science, art, music, and military might. This provoked the jealousy of another artist named Giovanni Baglione. Baglione made a parody of Amor Vincit Omnia, and he depicted Caravaggio as the devil. This provoked Caravaggio and his friends to mock Baglione. Caravaggio and Gentileschi ended up being arrested for criminal libel in the summer of 1603. In September, the two were released from prison and their charges were dropped. Between 1603 and 1606, Caravaggio didn’t receive as many commissions for large-scale public religious paintings as he used to. At the same time, his appearances in court were increasing.

In 1604, Caravaggio was arrested for many different things such as assaulting a waiter who served him artichokes dressed in butter instead of oil, throwing stones in the street in the company of a perfume maker and some prostitutes, and cursing at a policeman. In July of 1605, he was arrested but skipped bail and fled to Genoa for the month of August. While he was gone, his landlady had taken his possessions and changed his locks. When he returned, he smeared feces on her door and sang obscene songs outside her window.

On May 28, 1606, the resentment between Caravaggio and Tomassoni turned into a duel. Tomassoni bled to death, and Caravaggio fled Rome. He was subjected to a capital sentence, which meant that anyone in the Papal States could kill him and would be rewarded for it. Caravaggio fled to Colonna where he painted Supper at Emmaus and David with the Head of Goliath. He travelled to Naples where he was under the protection of the Colonna family. He painted four altarpieces there before he moved to Malta where he joined the Knights of the Order of St. John. Since he was accepted into the order, he was pardoned for the murder of Tomassoni. While in Malta, Caravaggio made a few paintings to win the favor of senior figures in the order. But the day before he was supposed to show one of his paintings, he assaulted a senior knight and was arrested.

Caravaggio escaped imprisonment, and by the autumn of 1609, he was in Naples. While he was there, he was attacked by four men.

It took Caravaggio several months to recover from the attack. In 1610, while recovering, he made his last two paintings, The Denial of Peter and The Martyrdom of St. Ursula. While he was working on these paintings, he was negotiating his pardon with Scipione Borghese. In July of 1610, Caravaggio put several of his paintings onto a boat in hopes of offering them to Borghese in exchange for reprieve, and he set off towards Rome. He arrived at the port of Palo where he was arrested for unknown reasons, and his paintings were sent to Porto Ercole. Caravaggio managed to pay his way out of jail and made it to Porto Ercole despite the summer heat and his poor health. The artist died soon after arriving at his destination on either July 18 or 19 at the age of 38.