Our generation is fully indebted to Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio for the style he created and that is now largely imitated. Caravaggio, his hometown from which he took his name, produces honourable citizens, such as his father, who was foreman and architect for the Marchese of Caravaggio. In his teenage years, he served a four or five year apprenticeship in Milan where he sometimes found himself in trouble because of his extravagance: the reflection of a brisk and passionate mind and of a strong personality.
When he was twenty, he went to Rome, where, from lack of means, he was obliged to live at Pandolfo Pucci da Recanati’s, beneficiary of Saint Peter, where he had to work to pay his board and lodging by doing tasks that displeased him. This arrangement was not entirely satisfying to him in view of the poor quality of the food provided. Indeed, he was sometimes served for his supper a salad as starter, main course and dessert. Therefore, after a few months, he left this house, rather unsatisfied by the services provided by his host whom he nicknamed ‘Monsignor Insalata’. During this period, he undertook several copies of religious paintings that are now exhibited in Recanati; he also painted several works that he sold, notably one representing a young boy crying because he has been bitten by the lizard he is holding in his hand, another with a young boy peeling a fruit with a knife, and the portrait of an innkeeper with whom he was staying.
Not long after, struck down by illness and with no money, he was obliged to go to the Hospital of Consolation, where he undertook during his convalescence many paintings for the prior of the hospital, who then took them to Sicily, his motherland. Thereafter, I was told that Caravaggio was accommodated in the residence of Cavalier Giuseppe and Monsignor Fantin Petrignani, who offered him a bedroom. This arrangement allowed him to undertake many paintings, in particular one representing a Bohemian woman telling the fortune of a young man, the famous painting of the Rest on the Flight into Egypt, The Conversion of Mary Magdalene, a Saint John the Evangelist and, later, The Entombment of Christ in the new church, paintings for San Luigi (San Luigi dei Francesi), and The Death of the Virgin in Santa Maria della Scala. But the fathers, who had learned that Caravaggio had asked a simple courtesan to model for the Virgin Mary, removed the painting that is now owned by Monsignor of Mantua. He also painted the Madonna di Loreto (San Loreto), that of the altar dedicated to Palafrenieri in Saint Peter’s, as well as many paintings now belonging to the Borghese family, those of the Cerasi chapel in the church of Santa Maria Del Popolo, and many paintings now owned by the Mattei, Giustiniani, and Sannesio families.
After certain events endangering his life, he had to ask Onorio Longo for protection, and after having killed a man with whom he had quarrelled, he had to run away from Rome. He then went to Zagarola where he was secretly sheltered by the Prince and painted a Mary Magdalene and a Christ on the road to Emmaus, works acquired by Monsignor Costa in Rome. Their sale allowed him to reach Naples, where he painted a few works and from whence he reached the island of Malta, where he carried out a few paintings appreciated by the Grand Master, who, as a sign of recognition, granted him the Knighthood of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. Hoping to obtain his rehabilitation, he went to Porto Ercole where, struck by a malignant fever and without receiving any care, he died of exhaustion at the age of 39 at the height of his glory, and was buried nearby.
It is undeniable that he reached a high level of perfection in painting characters and faces, as well as in mastering colour, and that the painters of this century owe him much. Nevertheless, to his expertise in art, he added strange habits. He had only one brother, of high morality, a priest and a man of letters, who, informed of his brother’s eccentricities and knowing that he was living at Cardinal Del Monte’s, thought it good to meet the latter and to tell him everything. He was asked to come back three days later. In the meantime, the Cardinal called Caravaggio and asked him if he had some family, to which he said no. As the Cardinal could not believe that the priest had lied to him on such an easily verifiable point, he had an enquiry undertaken and discovered that it was the painter who had lied.
After three days the priest came back and was received by the Cardinal who asked Caravaggio to come, too. The prelate showed him his brother and Michelangelo then affirmed he did not know him and that he was not his brother. The poor priest, encouraged by the presence of the Cardinal, spoke to him in these familiar terms: “Brother, I came from far only to see you and, having seen you, I obtained what I wanted, having come myself, by the grace of God, as you know, not for myself or for my children but rather for yours, if God gives you the grace of starting a family and having heirs. May God help you to succeed like I will ask Our Lord in my prayers and I know that your sister, in her chaste and virginal prayers will do the same.” With these warm and affectionate words that did not seem to move Michelangelo, the priest left without his brother uttering any word to wish him bon voyage or say farewell. This event shows the extravagance of his character and the misbehaviour which may have deprived him of a few dozen years of life and may have tarnished his glory and reputation. If he had lived longer, he would have pushed his art even further for the great advantage of those who still follow his path.