Caravaggio Research Paper

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Caravaggio’s work was “largely based on relative naturalism and [the] extensive use of dark shadows, [which] would be seen today as a rather rude characterisation of […] sixteenth-century Venetian painting[s]” (Kieth 1998: 37). “The lit and shadowed areas are very light and very dark and […] in an unnatural fashion neither done or even considered before by such artists as Raphael, Titian, […] or others” (Christiansen 2003). Caravaggio’s unusual techniques have made him a revolutionary painter of the seventeenth-century. “Caravaggio’s influence is credited with luring other artists to follow him in his use of darkened ground and the substitution of the commonplace for more nobly conceived figures in idealized settings” (Mann 1997: 161). Annibale …show more content…

However, the techniques that does make his a revolutionary artist would be his ability to strip religious or mythological beings of their powerful affiliations and represent them as ordinary people in the modern world. Decades after his death, Caravaggio has remained a prominent artist with his drastic idea to change the way art is made and what art represents. From the idealized bodies and manneristic paintings of the Renaissance to the toned down, natural, and realistic creations of the Baroque era, Caravaggio is seen as being one of the contributing artists —among others such as Annibale Carracci— to introduce a new art form to the world. For only living a short life, Caravaggio has earned the title as being one of the most controversial artist of the seventeenth century with his rebellious views on traditional Renaissance art. His influence spread all across Europe, having different artists being influenced by different aspects. The Gentileschi’s were mainly influenced by his ability to involve psychological aspects to the painting, and Rembrandt was mainly influenced to intensify the contrast between light and dark. Caravaggio was a part of a movement that stopped centuries of art that focused on the past —classicism— and instead, started focusing art on the

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