Caravaggio

Known for: The Calling of Saint Matthew (1600); extreme chiaroscuro

Caravaggio — born Michelangelo Merisi in Milan — arrived in Rome around 1592 and transformed European painting by depicting sacred subjects as physical, low-life realities, using extreme chiaroscuro (the contrast between light and shadow) and models drawn from the street rather than idealized figures. He was accused of murder in 1606 and fled Rome, spending his remaining years on the run in Naples, Malta, and Sicily. His manner was the most imitated in European painting for a century after his death.