Caravaggio Paints the Calling of Saint Matthew
1599
A violent young Lombard painter named Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio completed his Calling of Saint Matthew for the Contarelli Chapel in Rome. Jesus pointed through a shaft of dusty tavern light at a tax collector counting coins. European painting, suddenly and for good, had fallen under a new and brutal spell.
In context
Also in 1599 (5 other events on record)
- Globe Theatre Opens · Europe · Culture
- Dutch Reach Mauritius · Africa · Exploration
- Earl of Essex Fails in Ireland · Europe · War
- London Population Passes 200,000 · Europe · Politics
- Spanish Art Flourishes in Seville · Europe · Culture
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Culture
Era
Renaissance (1501–1650), one of 715 events from that era on Saeculum.