Brief Biography-Michael Angelo, Amerigi, da Caravaggio was his real name; Caravaggio was his parents’ village, which he named himself after; he was born in nearby Milan. His father died when he was six, and his mother, Lucia Aratori, brought him up. His father had been a mason, and he became employed as a boy preparing plaster for fresco artists in Milan.
At age twelve, he did an apprenticeship with Milanese artist Simone Peterzano. When his mother died, he left for Venice and Rome with the 393 imperial pounds he inherited. He quickly wasted his money and spent his first years in poverty. Nevertheless, a leading fresco artist named Giuseppe Cesari employed him before being admitted to the hospital after allegedly being kicked by a horse.
He became employed by Cardinal Del Monte, a collector of art, and received his first important commission for two paintings in the Contarelli Chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi. That work made him famous, and painting churches was where the money was. Commissions began to be numerous; however, he would interrupt his painting to go around tennis courts with his sword and servant boy in tow, getting into fights. Accused of various assaults, his rival artist Giovanni Baglione had him imprisoned; however, they released him on the condition that he stayed at home and did not offend Giovanni, lest he wished to be a galley enslaved person. He did, however, continue to engage in anti-social behaviour. It is taught his patrons protected him from the slave galleys.
In 1606, he and his friends fought over a wager in a tennis match. He got wounded, and his opponent eventually died from his wound. He subsequently fled Rome, never to return. He later went to Naples, where he painted three altarpieces before visiting Malta.
In Malta, he stayed with the Knights of Saint John and painted his most substantial work, The Beheading of Saint John, the patron saint. He was made a Knight of the Order of Obedience as payment for his work. The Grandmaster put a gold chain around his neck and made him a gift of two Turkish slaves in addition to his honours. News of Rome caught up with him, and he was stripped of his privileges and thrown into prison after a fight with a Knight. He escaped to Sicily and made his way to Messina and Palermo; he painted two altarpieces before returning to Naples.
He was now running from Papal justice and the Maltese Knights. In Rome, his friends were still trying to get him a pardon; speculation had it that they acquired him a Pope’s Pardon for the murder of his companion; hence he set out for Rome. In 1610, he left Naples on a small boat to Porto Ercole. Spaniards imprisoned him there for two days after being mistaken for another man. When he was released, he found the boatman had robbed his boat and belongings. He searched for his missing boat along a hot sunny beach, where ‘he suffered a raging fever and died as miserably as he had lived.’
Caravaggio began his career painting still lifes with flowers and fruit. Later, he painted primarily historical and religious subjects and portraits. The works of Giorgione had a strong influence on him. Domenichino was one of many artists influenced by his work. He was the first artist to extensively use the tenebrism style, which uses a marked chiaroscuro, where extreme contrasts of light and darkness govern the painting. Earlier artists used tenebrism; however, Caravaggio popularised it.