PREVIEW: Rome to celebrate enigmatic Renaissance master Caravaggio

Feb 19, 2010, 13:54 GMT

Rome - Rome is putting on show some of the most celebrated works of Caravaggio to mark the 400th anniversary of the revolutionary artist's mysterious death.

Hosted by the Scuderie del Quirinale the exhibition opens on Saturday and runs until June 13.

Caravaggio, whose real name was Michelangelo Merisi, was born in 1571 in Milan, but much of his short and tortured career was tied to Rome where he initially won fame and the patronage of aristocrats and cardinals.

Exhibition organizers say they have applied a stringent selection for the works, only choosing those known to be by Caravaggio himself while excluding any paintings attributed to his 'school.'

The 24 paintings on display, include Bacchus from Florence's Uffizi Gallery, the David With the Head of Goliath from the Borghese Gallery in Rome and the Musicians from the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Visitors can also admire masterpieces such as Lute Player from the Hermitage in St Petersburg and Amor Vincit Omnia from the Staatliche Museum in Berlin.

Many of the paintings showcase Caravaggio's groundbreaking use of 'chiaroscuro,' a technique that achieves a stark realism by dramatically contrasting light and shadow.

In a way, the style also mirrors the highs and lows of the artist's own life and his relationship to Rome.

His works pioneered what became known as the Baroque school and several adorn some of Rome's most famous churches and palaces.

But a fondness for street brawls led to repeated run-ins with the law, including periods of imprisonment.

Then, after one incident in which he killed a man, Caravaggio was forced to flee the city in 1606.

He spent his last years restlessly moving between Malta, Sicily and Naples, winning new painting commissions, but also making new, and sometimes powerful enemies.

He died in 1610, either at the hands of unknown assassins, or, as some other research suggests, of malaria on a remote Tuscan beach.