Caravaggio

Introduction & Top Questions
Becoming Caravaggio
Early life and training in Lombardy: 1571–92
- Tragic childhood
- Early influences
Rome: 1592–99
- First apprenticeships in Rome: Pucci, Cesari, and Petrigiani
- The patronage of Cardinal del Monte
- Successful artist and criminal
Rome: 1599–1606
- The Contarelli Chapel and other church commissions
- Continued successes and the murder of Tomassoni
Naples, Malta, Sicily, Naples, Porto Ercole: 1606–10

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Caravaggio: The Conversion of St. Paul (second version)

The unique drama of Caravaggio's The Entombment of Christ

Painting by Caravaggio showing a young Bacchus draped in white cloth, wearing a crown of grape leaves, holding a glass of red wine, with fruit and wine on the table.

Painting The Calling of St. Matthew by Caravaggio shows a group of men at a table, with a dramatic beam of light illuminating faces as Christ points toward Matthew in a darkened room.

The Calling of St. Matthew, oil on canvas by Caravaggio, 1597–98; in the Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome.

At a Glance

Caravaggio summary

Quizzes

Color pastels, colored chalk, colorful chalk. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society

Ultimate Art Quiz

Close-up of a palette held by a man. Mixing paint, painting, color mixing.

Artists, Painters, & Architects

Tate Modern extension Switch House, London, England. (Tavatnik, museums). Photo dated 2017.

Can You Match These Lesser-Known Paintings to Their Artists?

"The Birth of Venus," tempera on canvas by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485; in the Uffizi, Florence.

Who Painted the Most Expensive Paintings in the World?

Related Questions

How did Caravaggio influence filmmakers such as Pier Paolo Pasolini and Martin Scorsese?
How did Caravaggio make biblical scenes appear to take place in his own time?
How did Caravaggio use tenebrism to create drama in his paintings?
How did Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte support Caravaggio’s career?
How did the bubonic plague affect Caravaggio’s family during his childhood?
How did the second version of Saint Matthew and the Angel differ from the rejected first version?
How does Caravaggio’s Head of Medusa connect the Medici family to the myth of Perseus?
What did Caravaggio say made a painter a man of worth?
When and where was Caravaggio born?
Where and at what age did Caravaggio die?
Which Venetian painters may have influenced Caravaggio’s use of color and darkness?
Which early Caravaggio paintings were connected to Giuseppe Cesari’s workshop?
Which later artists were influenced by Caravaggio’s paintings?
Which paintings did Caravaggio create for the Contarelli Chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi?
Which paintings did Caravaggio create while hiding in Sicily?
Who commissioned The Conversion of St. Paul and The Crucifixion of St. Peter?
Who was Simone Peterzano, Caravaggio’s first recorded painting teacher?
Who were Caravaggio’s parents?
Why are Caravaggio’s paintings considered important to the Baroque style?
Why did Caravaggio call Pandolfo Pucci “Monsignor Salad”?
Why did Caravaggio leave Lombardy in 1592?
Why does a horse dominate Caravaggio’s Conversion of St. Paul?
Why was Caravaggio repeatedly arrested while living in Rome?
Why was Caravaggio’s Madonna of the Palafrenieri removed from St. Peter’s?
Why was Caravaggio’s first version of Saint Matthew and the Angel rejected?
What is Caravaggio best known for?
Who influenced Peter Paul Rubens?
What is Leonardo da Vinci best known for?
How many Leonardo da Vinci paintings are there?
What was Leonardo da Vinci’s personality like?
What was Leonardo da Vinci’s family like?
Who was Leonardo apprenticed to?
Why was Artemisia Gentileschi so significant?
What happened to Artemisia Gentileschi in 1611?
How did Artemisia Gentileschi’s style differ from that of other women artists of her time?

Visual Arts Painting Painters

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External Websites

The Art Story - Biography of Caravaggio
UEN Digital Press with Pressbooks - Caravaggio and Caravaggisti in 17th-century Italy
The National Gallery, London - Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 - 1610)
Official Site of Caravaggio
Web Gallery of Art - Biography of Caravaggio
The Guardian - Who killed Caravaggio and why? His final paintings may hold the key
Art in Context - Cubism Art Movement - Overview, Definition, History and Evolution
The Met - Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (1571Â–1610) and His Followers
National Endowment for the Humanities - Caravaggio Was the Other Michelangelo of the Renaissance
History Today - Caravaggio Lost at Sea
BBC - The Civilisations Podcast - Episode 5: Caravaggio

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Caravaggio - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Caravaggio

Italian painter

Also known as: Michelangelo Merisi

Written by

Andrew Graham-Dixon

Andrew Graham-Dixon is an art critic and journalist. He has presented numerous landmark series on art for the BBC, including the acclaimed A History of British Art, Renaissance and Art of Eternity,...

Andrew Graham-Dixon

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 13, 2026 •History

Caravaggio (born September 29, 1571, Milan or Caravaggio [Italy]—died July 18/19, 1610, Porto Ercole, Tuscany) was a leading Italian painter of the late 16th and early 17th centuries who became famous for the intense and unsettling realism of his large-scale religious works. While most other Italian artists of his time slavishly followed the elegant balletic conventions of late Mannerist painting, Caravaggio painted the stories of the Bible as visceral and often bloody dramas. He staged...

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