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Who were Caravaggio’s parents?
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Caravaggio
The Conversion of St. Paul (second version), oil on canvas by Caravaggio, 1601; in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.
The Italian painter Caravaggio (born Michelangelo Merisi) was the first child of Fermo Merisi and his second wife, Lucia Aratori.12
While some early accounts incorrectly identified his father as an architect and majordomo to the marchese of Caravaggio, historical records clarify that Fermo Merisi was a qualified stonemason (mastro) who operated a workshop. The family maintained connections to the local nobility through Caravaggio’s mother, whose father, Giovan Giacomo Aratori, served as a land surveyor and agent for the powerful Sforza family.2
Tragically, Caravaggio lost his father to an outbreak of bubonic plague in 1577, when the artist was only six years old.2