Caravaggio Michel Amerighida

Caravaggio, Michel Amerighi da, painter, was born in 1569 at Caravaggio, Lombardy, whence he received his name. His father being a mason, employed him as a labourer, but he zealously worked as a painter and won the patronage of Cardinal del Monte. The distinctive feature of his work was the contempt it displayed for idealism of any kind, and he became the head of the naturalists' school. He was of a violent disposition, which led him into continual trouble, being obliged to flee from Rome on account of a manslaughter committed in a gambling quarrel. He sought refuge in Malta, where he again got into trouble. Escaping thence he was seized with a violent fever, brought on by wounds and exposure and, lying down on the beach at Porto Ercole, died in 1609. Among his leading pictures are The Fraudulent Gamblers, The Burial of Christ, Christ and His Disciples at Emmaus, in the National Gallery, and St. Sebastian.