This article presents the most famous paintings by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610). He was the founder of realism in European art, the greatest master of the Baroque era, a tireless researcher of chiaroscuro effects, who gave birth to a whole trend in painting known as “Caravaggism”
The position in the coffin (1604)
In 1603-1604, Caravaggio created one of his most admirable altarpieces – The Position in the Coffin, also known as The Burial of Christ.
This one of Caravaggio paintings, which aroused the almost unanimous approval of critics, was subsequently copied many times by such artists as Rubens, Fragonard, Gericault, and Cezanne – 44 copies of the original Caravaggio canvas are known.
The Sick Bacchus (1593)
“The Sick Bacchus” (Bacchino Malato – Italian) is an early self-portrait by the Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, dating from 1593-1594 and located today in the Borghese Gallery in Rome.
Much earlier than Caravaggio’s talent was widely recognized, he was already known throughout Rome, but from the other, dark side of the artist’s nature: as an incorrigible brawler, bully, brawler, and bully, who had an incredibly hot-tempered and aggressive character.
Fortune Teller (1595)
The Fortune Teller (1594 – 1595) is one of Caravaggio paintings, currently in the collection of the Louvre. This painting exists in two versions, painted with a difference of one year.
As we have already said, one of them is in the Louvre, and the other is in the Capitoline Museums of Rome. Here we will talk about a later and, undoubtedly, perfect version – from the Louvre.
Medusa (1597)
Caravaggio painted two versions of “Medusa” – one, somewhat more modest in size, was created in 1596, and the other, larger and more famous, now in the Uffizi – a year later. he second version of “Medusa”, as it often happened with Caravaggio paintings, turned out to be much more successful.
Caravaggio captured the moment immediately after Perseus cut off the Gorgon Medusa’s head. Her face is distorted with horror, fear, and pain, and blood gushes in powerful streams from the stump of her neck.
The painting is made with maximum and frankly frightening realism, which is further aggravated by the fact that Caravaggio used his own face as a “model”.
Fruit Basket (1599)
This is one of the most famous paintings by Caravaggio (1571-1610), which is kept in The Ambrosian Library in Milan. The painting “came out of the twilight” only in 1991, when a specialist in the work of Caravaggio Longi finally established the true authorship of the work.
Beautiful, juicy, ripe fruits that have already begun to deteriorate and wither are nothing but a metaphor for the frailty and short-term nature of our sinful existence.
Bacchus (1596)
“Bacchus” is one of the most famous Caravaggio paintings, clearly offering the viewer to submit to his carnal desires. The eroticism of a homosexual nature, clearly felt in the painting, could be a reflection of Caravaggio’s own romantic feelings for the young man who posed for the painting.
In the sixteenth century, homosexual relationships with young people were not condemned. Many patrons of Caravaggio and his fellow artists turned a blind eye to his behavior and continued to support his work
