Caravaggio
Judith Beheading Holofernes
c. 1598
Galleria Nationale dell Arte Antica, Rome
Image Courtesy of Carol Gerten
He moved to Rome, the center of the Baroque movement, and began to work on realistic images of subjects that used to be portrayed through a more ideal perspective. The appearance of such highly regarded figures in religion resembling so closely to everyday people was very new. His earlier paintings were genre-based, but unlike the images of the past, he had a strikingly real style that shocked the critics. His commissioned paintings were rejected and he was condemned by religious authorities.
He lead a violent life and was well known by the police on accounts of assaults and stabbings. In 1606, he killed a man and fled. He eventually ended up n Naples in 1607, where he was received by the Grand Master of the Order of S. John, and given the lowest rank of Knight of Grace. He was expelled from the order after attacking an officer of higher rank. Upon his return to Maples, he ended up in a fight that left him disfigured. He was mistakenly reported dead in that riot but made it out safely. He left Maples, once again, for Port 'Ercole and was mistakenly taken prisoner aboard a Spanish ship. He was released, only to find that his possessions were taken. He died of malaria, shortly afterwards, in 1610.