Walk Through Caravaggio's Works

Michelangelo Merisi, called Caravaggio after his hometown, came to Rome in his early twenties and changed Western painting in less than twenty years. Before him, religious painting was idealized — saints in clean robes against blue skies. Caravaggio painted them as real people, often with dirty feet, lit by a single dramatic light against deep darkness. The technique is called tenebrism (Latin tenebrae = darkness). Walk through five family-safe paintings in order — early Rome through the major Roman chapel works that defined Baroque light and drama.