Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

The Profile

Italian painter (1571–1610) whose dramatic realism and use of light and shadow (tenebrism) were highly influential in the early Baroque.

He received the Cerasi commission (Crocifissione di San Pietro and the Conversion of Saint Paul) and had prominent patrons such as the Doria and the Giustiniani; his work marks a shift toward tenebroso and a new approach to history painting.

The available review praises Caravaggio's combination of realism and religious sentiment and places the Crucifixion of Saint Peter within his shift to tenebroso. It highlights the Cerasi commission and the compositional use of diagonals and light. The review rates the work highly and notes a rejected earlier version.