The life of Caravaggio

Ottavio Leoni's portrait
of Caravaggio

Caravaggio was the name acquired by painter Michelangelo Merisi
Possibly the greatest Italian painter of the 17th century
He was born in the town of his acquired name
Which is close to Milan you see
Caravaggio was a man of brilliance
Whose divisive work was both lauded and loathed
But he also lived a tempestuous life and once murdered a man
Which led to his work turning morose
The apprentice of Simone Peterzano for four years
In the 1590s Caravaggio moved to Rome
There his work was noticed by Cardinal del Monte
And soon Caravaggio's work found a religious home
Commissioned to decorate the Contarelli Chapel
With the life of St Matthew
The public were stunned by the artwork
The beautiful realism and unflinching brutality was so new
From then Caravaggio was commissioned

The Crucifixion of St Peter
by Caravaggio, 1601

To produce many more pieces of art
Until 1606 when a heated game of tennis
Would forever blacken Caravaggio's heart
A quarrel broke out with his opponent
And Caravaggio stabbed the man to death
After that the painter went on the run
Living a life of strife and unrest
His work over the next four years
Were darker than before
In 1609 he was wounded badly
In a vicious tavern brawl
A year later he was pardoned of the murder
Which in Rome he had committed
But just a few months after that he died from a fever
A deeply troubled man but so very talented