Michelangelo Merisi, universally known as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter. Trained in Milan and active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610, Caravaggio gained great international fame during his lifetime and immediately after his death, establishing the Caravaggisti movement and exerting a strong influence on 17th-century Baroque painting. However, he was later forgotten until critical rediscovery in the 20th century, and is now considered one of the most famous representatives of Western art of all time.
