Early Life

Sometime around 1595, Caravaggio struck out on his own and started selling his paintings through a dealer. His work soon caught the attention of Cardinal Francesco del Monte, who adored Caravaggio's paintings and quickly set him up in his own house, with room, board and a pension.
A prolific painter, Caravaggio was known to work quickly, often starting and completing a painting in just two weeks. By the time he had come under the influence of del Monte, Caravaggio already had 40 works to his name. The lineup included "Boy with a Basket of Fruit," "The Young Bacchus" and "The Music Party."
Much of Caravaggio's early work featured chubby, pretty young boys done up as angels or lutenists or his favorite saint, John the Baptist. Many tof the boys in the paintings are naked or loosely clothed. Caravaggio's only known assistant was a boy named Cecco, who appears in a number of Caravaggio's works and who may have also been his lover.

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Widening Appeal

In 1597, caravaggio was awarded the Roman San Luigi collection Francesi Contarelli church decoration committee.This is an important and formidable task, accused the 26-year-old painter's mission is to make three picture of st Matthew large paintings of different scenarios in the life. The resulting three pieces "st Matthew and angel", "the call of st Matthew" and "st Matthew martyrdom" completed in 1601, shows the common caravaggio excellence as an artist.
But these works also caused the church and the consternation of the public.When performing the job, caravaggio avoids the traditional worship portrayal of the saints, and present a more realistic way of st Matthew.His first version "st Matthew and the angel" in his customers has caused so much anxiety, he had to redo it.
For caravaggio, however, the commission for his painting provides an exciting new directions, in this direction, he can promote traditional religious scene and explained with his own dark to put to good use.His biblical scene filled with a prostitute in the streets of Rome, beggars and thieves.
In addition to some economic benefits, Contarelli Chapel on the commission also provides a lot of exposure and Caravaggio.His paintings from the next few years, including "crucifixion" st. Peter, "st Paul transformation", "deposit" of Christ and his famous "the death of the virgin".Which depicts the virgin Mary, swollen belly, legs, style, full of caravaggio was Camille were rejected, finally landed in the hands of the duke of mantua.

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Late Years

His violence finally erupted with force in 1606, when he killed a well-known Roman pimp named Ranuccio Tomassoni. Historians have long speculated about what was at the root of the crime. Some have suggested that it was over an unpaid debt, while others have claimed that it was the result of an argument over a game of tennis. More recently, historians, including Andrew Graham-Dixon, have pointed to Caravaggio's lust for Tomassoni's wife, Lavinia.
Immediately following the murder, Caravaggio fled Rome and sought refuge in a host of other locations: Naples, Malta and Sicily, among others. But even as he fled from punishment for his crime, fame followed Caravaggio. In Malta, he was received into the Order of Malta as a Knight of Justice, an award that he was soon stripped of when the Order learned of the crime he had committed.
However, even as he fled, Caravaggio continued to work. In Naples, he painted "Madonna of the Rosary" for a fellow painter, and later "The Seven Works of Mercy" for the church of Pio Chapel of Monte della Misericordia.
In Malta, he created "Beheading of St. John the Baptist" for the cathedral in Valletta. In Messina, his work included "The Resurrection of Lazarus" and "The Adoration of the Shepherds," while in Palermo he painted the "Adoration with St. Francis and St. Lawrence."
One of Caravaggio's more shocking paintings from this period is "Resurrection," in which the painter revealed a less saintly, more bedraggled Jesus Christ escaping from his tomb in the middle of the night. This scene was no doubt inspired by events in Caravaggio's own life. By this time, Caravaggio had become a nervous wreck, always on the run and in constant fear for his life, so much so that he slept with his clothes on and with a dagger at his side.

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Appeal

Even though Caravaggio was shunned after his death, he eventually came to be recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern painting. His work greatly influenced so many future masters, from Diego Velazquez to Rembrandt. In Rome, in 2010, an exhibition of his work that marked the 400th anniversary of his death attracted more than 580,000 visitors.

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