Vente de tableaux et peintures de Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

The Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), better known as Caravaggio, is considered a "revolutionary artist". His turbulent and erratic life, often characterised by scandals due to his violent personality (he was imprisoned for murder) is the reason why he frequented taverns as well as the underbelly of the streets at night. Many of his paintings are of ordinary people he met. The characters he depicts in his mythological, religious or secular scenes are visually represented with the same level of realistic approach. It is the character that is painted, not what it represents in terms of social context.

Caravaggio worked in the dark and lit his own candles, which he placed in the same direction, resulting in "chiaroscuro". This method of emergence, which was intended to tell a story, linked the action to the characters on the stage. He did not sketch before the performance. Instead, he applied his colours to the canvas, thus breaking the dichotomy between colouring and drawing. He mainly painted small easel pictures to meet private requests. Larger canvases were made for churches.

It is these plays of light and shadow, these scenes or landscapes that are not even sketched by this pioneer artist in his field that will influence many great painters after his passage first in Italy and then throughout Europe. Many will only remember the chiaroscuro techniques, but to the detriment of the modernity of his art, such as the way he frames his works, the dramatic setting, the realism and simplicity of his compositions...

In 1610, the remains of Michelangelo Merisi were found on the beach at Porto Ercole. He had died of malaria.