Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Bacchus

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born in Milan or Caravaggio in 1573. Caravaggio was apprenticed to the artist, Simone Peterzano of Milan, from 1584 until 1588, when he left for Rome to work as an assistant for less talented artists.

I don't have an exact definition of a hero. A hero to me is someone I admire. All of my heroes are artists (most are painters or poets). I admire the artists because of their skills in painting, drawing, sculpting, their ability to write poetry, etc.

Caravaggio meets my definition of a hero because he's one of my favorite artists. He didn't paint like other artists, and when people didn't like his new technique, he wasn't persuaded to change just to be like everyone else.

Michelangelo Caravaggio was controversial because of his short temper and his naturalist style of painting. He caused a lot of trouble and had a police record, and even fled Rome a couple of times. He didn't paint like other artists before him, instead, his paintings were very realistic. People disliked the reality of Caravaggio's paintings, and the fact that he painted pagan gods. They also disliked the nudity in his paintings since nudity wasn't in style at the time, and you were pretty much labeled a heretic if you didn't paint biblical images. Also, Michelangelo didn't sketch before he did a painting like other artists because he felt that drawings were too unrealistic and that art was meant to be realistic.

I think Caravaggio is important because he created tenebrism and influenced other artists. Tenebroso is a style of painting that emphasizes the use of lighting in painting, which makes the subject look illuminated. He is important to me because he was a very talented artist and I respect that. I can relate to Caravaggio because he was an artist like myself, and he was interested in art from a young age.