Orazio Gentleschi /1563-1639

Orazio Gentleschi /1563-1639
ORAZIO GENTILESCHI (1563-1639) belonged to the first generation of followers of the great Italian baroque genius of the 17th century, Michelangelo Caravaggio. Orazio enjoyed a prolific and highly successful professional career, but in modern times his success has been overshadowed by popular interest in the tragically sensational life of his daughter Artemisia. Scholars intent upon exposing psychological and autobiographical subtexts within Artemisia's paintings risk overlooking the lyrical grace in the painting of her father. Orazio began his career working in the mannered Florentine style until 1600 when Caravaggio's paintings of the Calling and Martyrdom of St. Matthew were unveiled at the church of San Luigi dei Francesci in Rome. Caravaggio's canvases, with their shallow, stagelike compositions, theatrical lighting, bold chiaroscuro, and unrelieved naturalism, exposed the blandness and artificiality of conventional Italian painting. Caravaggio's style had a profound impact upon Orazio, who at the age of 40 abandoned his former style …