Baroque · 1571–1610 · Italian

Caravaggio

Caravaggio set brightly lit figures against near-black backgrounds, the dramatic style called tenebrism. His palette was simple, earth colors, lead white, black and vermilion: the drama comes from light, not hue.

Across 6 works, the colors are mostly black (58%), brown (34%) and white (3%). On average the canvases are dark, muted and warm. Signature colors, used far more here than across the collection: black, soot, bistre, warm black and dark brown.

Color print

The swatches covering most of these canvases, averaged over every work, dark to light.

• MG 219 bistre 17.8% of canvas
• MG 223 soot 17.2% of canvas
• MG 222 charcoal 10.2% of canvas
• MG 220 warm black 7.8% of canvas
• MG 224 black 6.7% of canvas
• MG 221 blue black 4.3% of canvas
• MG 177 dark taupe 4.1% of canvas
• MG 169 dark brown 4.0% of canvas
• MG 195 dark olive 2.8% of canvas
• MG 194 dark golden olive 2.5% of canvas
• MG 157 very dark reddish brown 2.2% of canvas
• MG 156 dark reddish brown 1.8% of canvas
• MG 170 very dark brown 1.7% of canvas
• MG 168 dark amber brown 1.7% of canvas
• MG 176 taupe 1.4% of canvas
• MG 186 dark umber 1.3% of canvas

Measurements

Lightness

0.31

Contrast

0.54

Vividness

0.022

Warmth

+1.00

Complexity

144 cells

Hue range

0.31

Focus

0.21

Composition

Averaged over 6 works: 51% of the visual weight in the left half, 57% in the lower half; symmetry 0.15; 44% calm space; half of the detail in 22% of the canvas. Measured from each image, not a rule the painters followed.

Works

• Self-Portrait as Bacchus, 1595
• Medusa, 1597
• Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1599
• Supper at Emmaus, 1601
• The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, 1608
• The Calling of Saint Matthew, 1609