Caravaggio
Caravaggio killed a man in a fight over a tennis match. Or a gambling debt. Or a woman. The sources disagree. What is certain is that Ranuccio Tomassoni died on a Roman street in May 1606, Caravaggio held the sword, and the painter spent the last four years of his life on the run.
Biography
Before the killing, he had already transformed European painting. He arrived in Rome from Milan in the early 1590s, hungry and unknown, and within a decade had developed a method of painting from life, using strong directional light against deep shadow, that made the prevailing Mannerist style look theatrical and empty. He used real people as models: prostitutes, street boys, labourers. His saints had dirty feet. The Church commissioned altarpieces and then rejected them for being too vulgar, too real, too much like the people who actually attended church.
The Calling of Saint Matthew, painted for the Contarelli Chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi, is his method at its clearest. The light enters from the upper right like a blade. Matthew sits at a tax collector's table with his companions. Christ points. The scene looks like something you might see through a doorway, which is roughly the viewer's position. Nothing is idealised. The moment is ordinary and sacred simultaneously.
After the killing he fled to Naples, then Malta, then Sicily, then back to Naples. He kept painting. The late works are darker, faster, more desperate. He received a papal pardon and boarded a boat north. He died on a beach in Porto Ercole in July 1610, at thirty-eight. The cause is unknown: fever, infection, possibly lead poisoning from his paints. His influence on Rembrandt, Velazquez, Georges de La Tour, and every painter who has ever used a spotlight is difficult to overstate.
Timeline
- 1571Born Michelangelo Merisi in Milan. His family moved to the town of Caravaggio in 1576 to escape a plague.
- 1595At 24, taken into the household of Cardinal Francesco del Monte in Rome, who became his first major patron.
- 1600At 29, unveiled The Calling of Saint Matthew in the Contarelli Chapel in Rome, establishing his reputation overnight.
- 1606At 34, killed Ranuccio Tomassoni in a brawl in Rome, reportedly over a tennis match, and fled the city with a death sentence.
- 1608At 37, painted The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist in Malta and was inducted as a Knight, only to be expelled months later.
- 1610Died aged 38 under mysterious circumstances at Porto Ercole while travelling to receive a papal pardon.
Notable Works
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Where to See Caravaggio
20 museums worldwide.
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8 worksGalleria Borghese
Rome, Italy
The Galleria Borghese in Rome keeps six autograph Caravaggios on permanent display, built from Cardinal Scipione Borghese's early seventeenth-century patronage. David with the Head of Goliath (c. 1610) and Boy with a Basket of Fruit (c. 1593) sit in rooms Caravaggio himself would have recognised.
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7 worksGemäldegalerie Berlin
Berlin, Germany
Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon
Berlin's Gemäldegalerie holds seven Caravaggios, most importantly Amor Vincit Omnia (1601-02), painted for the Giustiniani collection. The museum reads the picture next to its Dutch and Flemish Caravaggisti, showing how quickly his tenebrism travelled north of the Alps.
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5 works
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica
Rome, Italy
Tue-Sun 10:00-19:00, closed Mon; closed Jan 1, Dec 25 · €15
Split across Palazzo Barberini and Palazzo Corsini, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica holds Judith Beheading Holofernes (c. 1599), among the most viscerally argued Caravaggios in Rome. The five-work group covers his early Roman period, when papal patronage via Cardinal Del Monte first shifted his tenebrism into public altarpieces.
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3 worksGalleria Doria Pamphilj
Rome, Italy
Mon–Thu 9:00–19:00, Fri–Sun 10:00–20:00, closed Wednesdays
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3 worksKunsthistorisches Museum
Vienna, Austria
Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00 (Thu until 21:00); closed Mon (open Mon Jun–Aug) · €21 adults, free under-19
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Caravaggio prints
Hand-finished archival prints from Caravaggio's body of work.
The Inspiration of Saint Matthew - Caravaggio
From £28.00
The Entombment of Christ - Caravaggio
From £28.00
Saint Matthew and the Angel - Caravaggio
From £28.00
The Cardsharps - Caravaggio
From £28.00
Basket of Fruit - Caravaggio
From £28.00
Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy - Caravaggio
From £28.00
Related Artists
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See all Caravaggio prints →Frequently Asked Questions
Did caravaggio kill people?
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio killed a man named Ranuccio Tomassoni in a swordfight in May 1606. The reason for the fight is uncertain, with possibilities including a tennis match, a gambling debt, or a woman.Did caravaggio use a camera obscura?
The idea that Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio used some kind of lens or camera obscura is refuted. Early writers do not mention any such device, and nothing like it appears in his belongings.How did caravaggio paint?
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio achieved the effects in his paintings by means of a technique that astonished his contemporaries. Bellori remarked that he concentrated solely on the complexion, skin, blood and the natural surface, and left all other artistic considerations aside.Is caravaggio renaissance?
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio played a critical role in the formation of a modern approach to painting. His art marks a new, more complex stage of development during the years around 1600, comparable to the novelties introduced in literature by Cervantes or Shakespeare.Was caravaggio a criminal?
Giulio Mancini, a contemporary of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, reported that he had "some extravagances from time to time that can be explained by a hot tempered and passionate temperament". He also killed a man in 1606 and spent the last four years of his life on the run.What is caravaggio most known for?
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is most known for his portrayal of holy figures as low-class people. Many considered this to be blasphemous.When did caravaggio die?
Caravaggio died in 1610 at the age of 39.When did caravaggio live?
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born in 1571, probably in Milan. Caravaggio died in July 1610.Where can i see caravaggio paintings?
Caravaggio's works can be seen at Galleria Borghese, Gemäldegalerie Berlin, Borghese Collection, and 2 other museums worldwide.Who was caravaggio influenced by?
Borromeo's teaching inspired Milanese artists to develop a stark, emotional painting devoid of sensual niceties. This teaching called for a clear and direct art showing proper decorum that induces the viewer to piety.Why did caravaggio kill?
The reason Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio killed Ranuccio Tomassoni is not definitively known. Mancini wondered if the rejection of his altarpiece for St Peter’s might have been the tilting point of the painter’s whole life.Why did caravaggio use tenebrism?
Caravaggio used perspective to bring the viewer into the action. He also used chiaroscuro to engage the emotions while intensifying the scene's impact through dramatic light and dark contrasts.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following primary and tertiary references for Caravaggio.
- [1] museum Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes Used for: museum holdings.
- [2] museum Capitoline Museums Used for: museum holdings.
- [3] museum Galleria Palatina Used for: museum holdings.
- [4] museum Fondazione Roberto Longhi Used for: museum holdings.
- [5] museum Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen Used for: museum holdings.
- [6] museum Department of Prints and Drawings of the Louvre Used for: museum holdings.
- [7] wikidata Wikidata: Q42207 Used for: identifiers.
- [8] book Langdon, Helen, Caravaggio : a life Used for: biography.
- [9] book Desmond Seward, Caravaggio - A Life Used for: biography.
- [10] book Masterpieces of western art : a history of art in 900 individual studies from the Gothic to the present day Used for: biography.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-07-15. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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