Term Papers on Michelangelo Merisi Da Caravaggio

Term Paper Title	Michelangelo Merisi Da Caravaggio
# of Words	1035
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.14

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, usually referred to as Caravaggio after his birthplace near Milan, is one of the most important artists in the history of Western art. From his early teens into his twenties he was trained in Milan as an apprentice in the studio of a painter. He went to Rome in the early 1590s to enter the studio of a prominent painter. He lived a brief and dramatic life, and his work was sometimes shocking to the people of his time.
Caravaggio was considered a rebel against convention, both in his art and in his behavior. In 1606 he had to leave Rome after killing a man over a wager on a tennis match. Even though his life was short, his painting style had enormous impact on artists throughout Europe. Caravaggio produced many religious paintings that shocked his patrons because of his depiction of Christ and other religious figures as common people in everyday settings. He spent the last four years of his life wandering from city to city in Italy and died at the age of 39 from malaria.
About the Art
The Cardsharps is a genre painting--a painting showing an everyday activity of ordinary people; it is considered one of Caravaggio's early masterpieces. It was sold to an influential man, Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, who gave Caravaggio protection in his palace and introduced him to other important people in Rome.
In the painting we see two young men playing a card game. One of the players is studying the cards in his hand while a man looks over his shoulder and signals the other player across the table. The cheat is reaching behind his back in order to retrieve a card that will enable him to win the game. The young man on the left appears to be innocent and completely unaware of how he is being tricked by the other two figures. The gestures and facial expressions give viewers an understanding of the deception and loss of innocence about to occur.
Additional Information
Caravaggio is one of the most important artists who lived during the period referred to as Baroque. The word baroque (bar-oak') was originally a Portugese word meaning irregular, contorted, or grotesque, and was used in a derogatory way to describe the art of the seventeenth century. Today we use the term to refer to the art and architecture produced in Europe from about 1600 to 1700. The ability to arouse emotion in the viewer, often through dramatic means, is characteristic of Baroque art. The suggestion of movement, contrasts of light and dark, and communication of feeling through gesture and facial expression were typical during this period. Works tended to be highly naturalistic, although they often contained symbolic or moralizing meanings. Artists were highly skilled at drawing and painting and could present the human figure from every possible angle. The lighting in some Baroque paintings appears to come from spotlights shining on the action taking place in the painting while other areas seem to disappear into the unlit shadows. The artists employed such contrasts of light and dark for greater...

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