Michelangelo Merisi (
Michael Angelo Merigi or
Amerighi)
da Caravaggio (; 29 September 1571 in
Milan – 18 July? 1610) was an
Italian painter active in
Rome,
Naples,
Malta, and
Sicily between 1592 (1595?) and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on
Baroque painting.