"David with the Head of Goliath", 1606 Michelangelo Merisi (known as Caravaggio) (1571 - 1610) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

Caravaggio is called "a tenebrista" (from tenebrim - tiniebla in Spanish is darkness) - also called "chiaroscuro" from Italian for light-dark. Caravaggio was most active in Milan, Rome, Naples, and Sicily, his influence on Rubens, Ribera, Bernini and Rembrandt is palpable.

Caravaggio had a turbulent life and was prone to quarrels and violence. Nonetheless, Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, among other Vatican leaders, recognized his genius and promoted him - he became the most famous painter in Rome in his time. His style replaced the idealism depicted by Michelangelo with a realism of the human condition (depictions of saints with dirty legs or prostitutes as models for Saint Mary ... ). The circumstances of his death remain misterious, no body was ever found.