In Caravaggio’s Light | Baroque Masterpieces from the Fondazione Roberto Longhi
Caravaggio, Boy Bitten by a Lizard, 1594-96, Fondazione Longhi, Florence.
Like many great stars, Caravaggio is known by just one name. His work—sensual, shocking, audacious, and dramatically lit—is instantly recognizable. This extraordinary exhibition, featuring Old Master paintings from the prestigious and rarely seen collection of the Fondazione Roberto Longhi in Florence, Italy, celebrates the genius of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Italian, 1571–1610) and his profound influence on Baroque art.
At its heart is Caravaggio's early masterpiece, Boy Bitten by a Lizard—a riveting depiction of pain and surprise, where human emotion meets lush still life, all illuminated in his signature play of light and shadow. This bold new approach to composition, realism, and psychological depth sent shockwaves through the art world, forever changing the course of painting.
Caravaggio’s electrifying style—intense naturalism, raw energy, and radical use of chiaroscuro—swept across Europe, inspiring a generation of artists who gathered in Rome to push the Baroque movement to new heights. This exhibition showcases their brilliance with nearly forty stunning canvases, including four striking, intimate, portrait-like paintings of Saints Paul, Phillip, Thomas, and Judas Thaddeus by Jusepe de Ribera (Spanish, 1591–1652), the magnificently tenebrous Denial of St. Peter by Valentin de Boulogne (French, 1591–1632), a gripping exploration human psychology, and the luminous The Annunciation of Sampson’s Birth by Matthias Stom (Dutch, 1600–1652), a radiant vision of divine revelation.
This collection of Baroque paintings, assembled by the visionary scholar Roberto Longhi (Italian, 1889–1970), captures the essence of Caravaggio’s legacy and the thrilling artistic revolution he ignited. Longhi’s keen eye and groundbreaking research revived nearly forgotten artists, ensuring that their masterpieces—and the movement they helped shape—continue to captivate us today.