Caravaggio

I was orphaned at the age of 11 and subsequently spent four years as apprentice to Simone Peterzano in Milan before going to Rome in 1593, where I was employed my the Mannerist painter Giuseppe Cesari, for whom I painted fruit and flower pieces. My years with Giuseppe allowed me to develop my style as a realist and, I attempted to paint what was actually there in front of me, not what someone thought should be there. …

…sailed for Rome as, I was aware of appeals to the Pope for my pardon. However, I was arrested by mistake and, detained in prison. Upon release I discovered that the boat that was to take me home had set said will all my belongings. Caravaggio collapsed at the site of the departing boat, it seems that he could no longer bare the misfortune and exhaustion as he died of malaria a few days later.