Caravaggio (1571-1610) - 1594-95 The Cardsharps
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. He is considered the first great representative of the Baroque school of painting.
In his own lifetime Caravaggio was considered enigmatic and rebellious. He burst upon the Rome art scene in 1600, and thereafter never lacked for commissions yet he behaved atrociously. A notice on him, dating from 1604 and describing his lifestyle three years previously, tells how "after a fortnight's work he will swagger about for a month or two with a sword at his side and a servant following him, from one ball-court to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or an argument. In 1606 he killed a man in a brawl and fled from Rome with a price on his head. In Malta in 1608 he was involved in another brawl, and yet another in Naples in 1609. By the next year, after a relatively brief career, he was dead.
Caravaggio (1571-1610) - 1594-95 The Cardsharps
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. He is considered the first great representative of the Baroque school of painting.
In his own lifetime Caravaggio was considered enigmatic and rebellious. He burst upon the Rome art scene in 1600, and thereafter never lacked for commissions yet he behaved atrociously. A notice on him, dating from 1604 and describing his lifestyle three years previously, tells how "after a fortnight's work he will swagger about for a month or two with a sword at his side and a servant following him, from one ball-court to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or an argument. In 1606 he killed a man in a brawl and fled from Rome with a price on his head. In Malta in 1608 he was involved in another brawl, and yet another in Naples in 1609. By the next year, after a relatively brief career, he was dead.