Caravaggio: The Revolutionary Maestro Art has always been the expression of its time and the expression of the strengths and weaknesses of the culture, the society it represented. Very few artists are considered as revolutionary, as controversial, as influential as Caravaggio. Caravaggio’s real name was Michelangelo Merisi and he was born in Milan on September 28th 1571. Caravaggio grew up in middle-class family. People discovered Caravaggio in the second half of the twentieth century. No other painter of his time seems as actual in the expressive choices, in the composition of the scene, in the drama of the portraits as Caravaggio is.
Caravaggio is the painter of the truth and he reaches it through the light; his light is steady, a guiding light that comes in from one side of the scene and hits everything, objects, people without any distinction, without any hierarchy of importance. Caravaggio was an innovator; the way he treated the effects of light, for example are unprecedented. He was the first artist to use wisely artificial light like torches. “But these works also provoked much consternation from the church and public alike. In his execution of the work, Caravaggio eschewed the…show more content… “The Crucifixion of St. Peter” shows the saint who is being crucified upside down and all the suffering that he is going through. The scene is all concentrated on St. Peter and his is the only face that is shown because his torturers are hiding theirs. Caravaggio expresses St. Peter’s suffering with subtle iconographic stratagems like the Saint’s eyes that are very deep and meaningful and they are talking to the audience, the wrinkles on his face, the gaze of St. Peter that is directed outside of the frame like if he is looking for help, the nails on his feet and hands show the physical pain. It is amazing how the light is concentrated on Peter’s body and the rest of the scene remains in the
