卡拉瓦乔(1571～1610年)

Caravaggio，原名Michelangelo Merisi。

义大利画家。出生於卡拉瓦乔，十一岁时成为孤儿。先在米兰学画，1590年到罗马，获得一位枢机主教的赞助和庇护。1599～1603年画了一系列有关圣马太生平的作品，因而成为罗马最有名和最具争议性的画家。他打破传统描绘圣人的方式，把他们刻画成庶民一样，十分写实，这种反传统倾向赋予了诠释宗教画传统主题的新意。他使用暗色调主义，擅长运用强光黑影突出画面的主体，对比强烈，不作繁琐的细节描绘，形成他最特殊的个人风格，也是巴洛克时期的一大特色。1600年左右他接获许多委托，包括杰作《埋葬基督》（1602～1604）和《圣母之死》（1601～1603），因为描绘圣母形象粗俗，跣足肿腹，如同溺死的妇人，而被拒绝接收。虽然一生饱受批评和生活动荡，但声誉日隆，收入增加。1606年在一次决斗中杀了人後，逃离罗马到那不勒斯，後来辗转到马尔他、西西里等地，期间仍不断作画。1609年又回到那不勒斯，在一家酒店被人攻击，受到重伤，在返回罗马途中，死於发烧，当时教宗已原谅他的罪行。他对整个欧洲绘画影响很大，众多的追随者包括里贝拉、泰尔布吕亨、洪特霍斯特、真蒂莱斯基、武埃和拉图尔。

English version：

1571～1610年

Caravaggio

Italian painter. Born in Caravaggio, he was orphaned at 11. After an apprenticeship in Milan, he went to Rome in 1590, where he won the patronage of a cardinal. A series of large paintings of the life of St. Matthew (1599-1603) established him as the most renowned and controversial painter in Rome. Breaking with conventional formulas used in depicting saints, he used ordinary people as models and painted them with unforgiving realism; his inclination against tradition gave new meaning to the interpretation of traditional themes in religious painting. His use of tenebrism—dramatic, selective illumination of form out of deep shadow to heighten the emotional tension, focus the details, and isolate the figures—became the most outstanding feature of his style and a hallmark of the baroque period. After c. 1600 he received many commissions, including the monumental Entombment of Christ (1602-4) and Death of the Virgin (1601-3), refused by the Carmelites because of the Virgin's plebeian features, bared legs, and swollen belly. His reputation and income increased despite harsh criticism and a turbulent lifestyle. After killing a man in a brawl in 1606, he fled Rome, first to Naples, then to Malta, then to Sicily, always painting. In Naples again, he was attacked and badly wounded at an inn. He died of fever on his way back to Rome, where a papal pardon awaited him. He had an enormous impact on painting throughout Europe; his many followers include Jose de Ribera, Hendrik Terbrugghen, Gerrit van Honthorst, Artemisia Gentileschi, Simon Vouet, and Georges de La Tour.