Caravaggio: a seminal painter in the history of Western art
2019 was an important year for Caravaggio. His painting Judith and Holofernes was estimated to sell in Toulouse for $110 million, the highest auction price ever reached by an artwork in Europe, while 17th October marked 50 years since his Nativity with St Francis and St Lawrence was stolen from an Oratory in Palermo. These events may have made waves in the world of the arts, but for many people they were of virtually no significance.
This is perhaps owing to the artist’s anonymity beyond the confines of Europe’s ‘bel paese’. To many, Caravaggio is merely another Italian painter, motivated by a predilection for depicting flowers and fruit. In the eyes of critics, however, his importance cannot be overstated. Many have labelled him history’s first “modern” painter, a pioneer of realism whose techniques transformed the course of 17th century art.