Until March 22, 2026, St. Petersburg's Museum of Fine Arts ( https://mfastpete.org/exhibition/in-caravaggios-light/ ) is hosting an exhibition of some forty Baroque paintings from the Roberto Longhi Foundation in Florence, Italy. Longhi was a 20th century art collector and critic, an expert on Baroque art and especially on the life and work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, famously known by one name, Caravaggio. It's the first time that this collection has been exhibited together in the United States.
Caravaggio (1571-1610) is easily the most famous artist of the Baroque period. The Baroque period was from approximately 1600 to 1740, and it was often sponsored by and endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church as a reaction to the Protestant Reformation. Church officials sought to win back wayward souls from the growing Protestant sects which favored plainness and austerity, rejecting the over-the-top ornate opulence favored in Catholic churches. Catholic officials used drama and emotion in art to stir feelings and emotions, not just intellect, often depicting the most intense moments of passion and trauma in the Bible and in Catholic history. Church officials and Catholic royals saw art as propaganda, a means to win and keep their subjects' faith, and to keep it Catholic. Baroque paintings are often large in scale, employ swirling forms and diagonal lines to impart the illusion of motion, making the scenes dynamic and exciting. Baroque painters like Caravaggio became masters at using chiaroscuro, contrasting bright light and dark shadow to create focus and theatricality. Realism and naturalism are also hallmarks of Baroque painting. The humans and animals look like real people and animals, even in religious scenes. Fleshtones are so lifelike and realistic that the subjects seem like warm, living people. The realism could be a bit too much at times, however. Caravaggio's critics often fixated on the graphic violence and bloodletting that he painted when he depicted the gruesome martyrdom of various saints and Old testament stories, like Judith beheading Holofernes. Caravaggio was not of sterling character himself inn the eyes of Church and civic officials. He spent much of his short adult life trying to evade arrest and warrants that followed him from city to city. He often engaged in violent brawls, associated with vicious gangs and prostitutes, and was even charged with murder. Although his cause of death has been mysterious ever since it occurred, it is likely that he died as a result of a physical attack in Naples.
There are only two Caravaggio paintings in the exhibit. The rest were all painted by followers of Caravaggio. They can't really be called students or be said to be of the "Caravaggio school," because Caravaggio was too busy brawling, insulting, and painting on the lam to ever take on apprentices, but their work reflects his style. His influence continued long after his death, and it still continues. The Museum of Fine Arts paired this exhibition with a very interesting collection of works from their own collection, reaching all the way into the 21st century, that echo elements of Caravaggio's work.
If you find yourself visiting St. Petersburg this winter, a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts is a must.
"Boy Bitten By Lizard" and "Boy Peeling a Fruit" (one of his very early works)
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