https://archive.is/bDovV

Oh the article misses one of the best bits about his lifestyle.

The man run what essentially was a beautiful scam on churches. He was comissioned to paint saint and virgins. He would use local prostitutes as models (it is mentioned in the article he was condemed for the murder of a pimp). So when the paintings were presented to the church, the locals (and sometimes even the priests) would recognise the models and there would be some uproar of using the likeness of a streetwalker to paint the virgin mary. So the painting would get removed and most of the time a private owner (sometimes higher ups in the church) would buy them for their personal collection. Too scandalous for the public, but perfect for my own palace.

There was a very famous incident of this where he painted Mary's death. Usually this is a very holy moment in Christianity and it's painted as such. Caravaggio did not. He painted it in a dirty tent, in a very human way with her passing away. This was Strike One. Secondly he modeled the death after a famous body that was retrived from the river in Rome, a girl had drowned and tons of people had seen her lifeless body be pulled out of the water, and they could now see that same girl being virgin mary. Strike Two. And the last strike was that the woman was not any girl, but one of the most famous prostitutes of the city and one seen very regularly with Caravaggio. Painting your ex gf prostitute who died unceremonoiously drowned as the holyest figure outside of christ was a big issue at the time.

The painting however is still gorgeous and would urge anyone travelling to Paris (in the Louvre) to go see it. Not as "another virgin" painting, which you will find infinite Madonna paintings in Europe. But as one of the first paintings not sanctifying her death and as a sad goodbye from Caravaggio to someone important to him

I always heard about Caravaggio from books and Internet, finding his paintings "ok, realistic, cool for the time, skilfully made".

Then I saw a few live. The chiaroscuro theatre of shadow and light, the insane details, the dynamic of each painting, the mastery it takes to reproduce such art pieces, it all humbled me as an artist in a way I did not expect. This man had such an insane talent, vision and skill to produce some of these paintings, their harshness matching his lifestyle.

If you have a chance to see some of his works in person, go for it, it will definitely pay off.

His erratic behavior may have been attributable to heavy metal poisoning, especially lead, much of which came from his paints: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/jun/16/caravag...

This was an excellent article!

He's one of my favorite painters. Such depth and emotion. It's so fun to know more about how awful an actual person he was. Super cool that all of this information is still accessible 400 years later.

I recommend the Caravaggio episodes of https://artholespodcast.com/ to everyone!

Michael Anthony does a REALLY good job contextualizing Caravaggios crazy actions and giving a "window" into life in Italy then.

My favorite painter! I highly recommend Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane by Andrew Graham-Dixon. That and the Derek Jarman film (as referenced by others) provide valuable insight into his grandiose and self-destructive behavior, along with the patronage system that allowed him countless second chances until he managed to burn every bridge available to him. Michelangelo Merisi teaches us a great lesson on the precariousness of talent mixed with recklessness.

Caravaggio was my favorite artist with the chiaroscuro style when I was naive about art and he still is now when I’m not.

One of my favorite painter. Deserves a film or limited series. Only if done well and with accuracy, which may be near impossible.

I get that they're ginning up excitement with "Caravaggio's last painting was a murder scene!", but it's a bit of a schtick. As pointed out in TFA it was a commission, and so not exactly a "personal" painting. Furthermore, at the time of his death, Caravaggio was headed back towards Rome, with a pardon all but assured. He wouldn't have been painting Saint Ursula under a premonition of death.

If you want to see what was on his mind a few years earlier, when he really was in fear for his life, look at some of what he painted then: a Judith Beheading Holofernes; two Salomes With the Head of John the Baptist; a Beheading of John the Baptist (the only painting he ever signed - in the blood dripping from the evangelist's neck!); and, most memorably, David Holding the Head of Goliath, in which Caravaggio gives the severed head his own features. How metal is that?

I looked at his work here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravaggio

his medusa kind of reminds me of joseph ducreaux:

https://www.openculture.com/2021/12/the-eccentric-self-portr...

(without the blood)

I recommend the episodes about his life on the History on Fire podcast. This guy was WILD

Jesus Christ does that website have a shit ton of trackers. 321 ‘partners with access to fine geolocation’?!?

watch derek jarman's 'caravaggio'

hacker news is very fast