Caravaggisti – Painters inspired by Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was one of the most influential artists of all time, profoundly inspiring painters from all over Europe with his innovative, dramatic use of light and his fresh realistic presentation of his subject matter. The followers of his style, the so-called Carravaggisti, comprise a large group of some of the most celebrated painters from all over Europe, North and South, who encountered his bold approach while visiting and working in Italy in the early 1600s.

Several important works painted by the earliest of the Caravaggisti are to be sold at auction in Dorotheum’s Old Master Paintings sale on Tuesday, 30^th April 2019, 5 p.m.

Italian Caravaggisti

Among the works by Caravaggisti for sale at Dorotheum on April 30^th is a St Bartholomew by Bartolomeo Manfredi (Lot 362, estimate € 300.000-400.000) and another of the same subject, a St Bartholomew (Lot 359, estimate € 80.000-120.000), painted by an unconfirmed hand, catalogued as Roman School but recently attributed to Caravaggio himself. Following Caravaggio’s premature death, it is Bartolomeo Manfredi who is credited with passing on the master’s stylistic innovations, particularly his use of naturalism, to the next generation.

A sensual work by the most prominent female Caravaggist painter, Artemisia Gentileschi, entitled Mary Magdalene (painted with the assistance of Onofrio Palumbo, (Lot 373, estimate € 400.000-600.000) and another, originally from a princely collection, A Ligated Lamb by a basket of Eggs by Giovan Battista Recco (Lot 361, estimate € 50.000-70.000) will also be included in the sale.

Dutch and Flemish Caravaggisti

Works offered in the sale by Dutch and Flemish Caravaggisti include Johannes van Bronchorst’s Diogenes looking for an Honest Man (Lot 360, estimate € 30.000-50.000), a Flemish School, 17^th Century Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple (Lot 352, estimate, 30.000-40.000), and Joost Van de Hamme Saint Jerome (Lot 380, estimate € 80.000-120.000).