Caravaggio remains one of the most influential and disruptive forces in Western art history. Operating during the early Baroque era, he upended traditional painting methods with his raw style. His turbulent personal life, marked by brawls and a flight from justice, mirrored the intense drama found on his canvases.

The painter revolutionized religious art by abandoning idealized holy figures for gritty reality. He cast ordinary peasants and beggars as models for biblical scenes, presenting spiritual events with shocking human vulnerability. To heighten the emotion, he perfected a technique called chiaroscuro, using deep shadows pierced by sharp shafts of light.

His radical naturalism polarized contemporary audiences, sparking condemnation from conservative critics while mesmerizing younger artists across Europe. Though his violent temper led to a tragic, early death, his artistic legacy forever changed the trajectory of European painting.