Caravaggio may have possessed a violent gene, he was certainly known to be quarrelsome, bellicose, contentious and belligerent. In 1600 he was arrested for a sword fight with a member of the guards of Castel Sant’ Angelo. Caravaggio was sued and jailed in 1603 for writing libelous verses about an fellow artist, Giovanni Baglione. He was hauled into court for throwing an artichoke into the face of an insolent waiter and later that year he was jailed for stoning a member of the constabulary. In 1605, he attacked the home of his Roman landlady and broke all the windows in the house with rocks after he was expelled for non-payment of rent, and was accused of injuring the notary, Pasqualone, in an argument over a girl called Lena--a girl of questionable reputation. In 1606, Caravaggio and his friends got into an argument with Ranuccio Tommasoni supposedly over the score in a tennis match. The fight ended with the death of Tommasoni. That has been the accepted story until a BBC documentary by Andrew Graham-Dixon who revealed that Tommasoni was a pimp for two young prostitute: Anna Bianchini and Fillide Melandroni. Both men sought their favors and in a rage Caravaggio botched an attempt to castrate Tommasoni, causing, instead his death. In 1608, having left Naples under a cloud Caravaggio went to Malta where he received the prestigious Knighthood of the Order of St. John Hospitaller, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Later he wounded an officer of the Order in a sword fight and was jailed and his knighthood was rescinded. He fled to Sicily, was set upon by emissaries of the Knights of Malta, severely beaten and disfigured. He died in 1910 at Porto Ercole, Tuscany, possibly from malaria while waiting for his pardon from the Pope. He was thirty-eight!

Unlike most of his contemporaries, Caravaggio eschewed preparatory studies for his compositions, preferring instead an alla prima approach to his painting. This mode when coupled with his naturalism and attention to detail--more a characteristic of northern Europe--created works of high emotional intensity. Add this to his use of startling chiaroscuro evolved into works that rent the prevailing sensitivities of all but a few. Not only was his technique and approach to painting revolutionary, so too was his approach to traditional iconography with regard to religious subject matter. His dramatic, theatrical approach swept away all former traditions. By 1600, however, Caravaggio‘s reputation was secured by the paintings: the Calling of Saint Matthew (1599) (See below) and Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (1599) (See below). The two large paintings were dramatic. They were theatrical. They were revolutionary.