Art · 1571–1610
Born: 29 September 1571 · Died: 18 July 1610 · Age at death: 38
Caravaggio died aged 38. He was born on 29 September 1571 and died on 18 July 1610.
Italian Baroque painter of The Calling of Saint Matthew whose dramatic light and gritty realism matched his violent life
Did you know?He was forced to flee Rome after killing a man in a brawl that reportedly started over a tennis match.
Caravaggio painted light and darkness like no one before him. Born in Milan, he made his name in Rome in the 1590s. He used real people from the streets as models for saints. His dramatic contrast of light and shadow, called chiaroscuro, shocked and thrilled viewers. The Calling of Saint Matthew is one of his masterpieces. He was violent and often in trouble with the law. After killing a man in 1606 he fled Rome. He died at 38.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for a significant portion of his artistic life.
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Profile
Italian painter, 1571–1610
Caravaggio was born in Milan on 29 September 1571.
He worked in Rome from the 1590s.
He painted The Calling of Saint Matthew around 1600.
He fled Rome after a killing in 1606.
Career highlights
Did you know?He was briefly made a Knight of Malta before being expelled.
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