Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) was an Italian Painter and a revolutionary European artist that led the foundation of the Baroque style. Caravaggio abandoned the Renaissance theory idealizing the religious experience and painted a "realistic" version of the Bible as a bloody drama. Staging biblical events with live models and modern 16th-century fashion style, he generated contemporary scenes that made him the most significant Artist in Rome. Caravaggio's dramatic scenes staged an innovative treatment of light and shade that influenced generations of artists, including the Film Maker Martin Scorsese.
