什麼是卡拉瓦喬

Caravaggio，原名Michelangelo Merisi。

義大利畫家。出生於卡拉瓦喬，十一歲時成為孤兒。先在米蘭學畫，1590年到羅馬，獲得一位樞機主教的贊助和庇護。1599～1603年畫了一系列有關聖馬太生平的作品，因而成為羅馬最有名和最具爭議性的畫家。他打破傳統描繪聖人的方式，把他們刻畫成庶民一樣，十分寫實，這種反傳統傾向賦予了詮釋宗教畫傳統主題的新意。他使用暗色調主義，擅長運用強光黑影突出畫面的主體，對比強烈，不作繁瑣的細節描繪，形成他最特殊的個人風格，也是巴洛克時期的一大特色。1600年左右他接獲許多委託，包括傑作《埋葬基督》（1602～1604）和《聖母之死》（1601～1603），因為描繪聖母形象粗俗，跣足腫腹，如同溺死的婦人，而被拒絕接收。雖然一生飽受批評和生活動盪，但聲譽日隆，收入增加。1606年在一次決鬥中殺了人後，逃離羅馬到那不勒斯，後來輾轉到馬爾他、西西里等地，期間仍不斷作畫。1609年又回到那不勒斯，在一家酒店被人攻擊，受到重傷，在返回羅馬途中，死於發燒，當時教宗已原諒他的罪行。他對整個歐洲繪畫影響很大，眾多的追隨者包括裏貝拉、泰爾布呂亨、洪特霍斯特、真蒂萊斯基、武埃和拉圖爾。

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.