Polidoro da Caravaggio
Polidoro Caldara, usually known as Polidoro da Caravaggio (c. 1499 – 1543) was an Italian painter of the Mannerist period, "arguably the most gifted and certainly the least conventional of Raphael's pupils",[1] who was best known for his now-vanished paintings on the facades of Roman houses. He was unrelated to the later painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, usually known just as Caravaggio, but both came from the town of Caravaggio.
Assassination[edit]
According to Vasari, Polidoro was firmly resolved to return to Rome after completing significant projects in Messina. In order to make preparations for this trip, he withdrew all of his savings from the bank for the trip to Rome. Upon discovering this, one of Polidoro's workmen, along with several accomplices, resolved to put the master to death on the following night, and then to divide the money among themselves. On the night following, they set upon Polidoro while he was slumbering deeply, and strangled him with a cloth. Then, giving him several wounds, they made sure of his death; After a period of many days when no perpetrator was discovered, it was thought that no one except the workman could have committed the act. Upon receiving intelligence of the assistant's alleged involvement, he was captured on the authority of the Count of Messina, and tortured until he confessed to the crime. Shortly thereafter, he was sentenced to the gallows, torn with red-hot pincers, and quartered.[9]
Legacy[edit]
Among Polidoro's pupils in Messina was Deodato Guinaccia, Stefano Giordano, Mariano Riccio, Antonello Riccio, Jacopo Vignerio, and Alfonso Lazzaro.[10]
Assembly of Gods Lavis by Polidoro da Caravaggio, c. 1524. Probably study for the decoration of the Rota palace in Naples.
Landscape by Polidoro da Caravaggio and Maturino da Firenze, in S. Silvestro al Quirinale, Rome (c. 1525)
Military procession, MET
Statue of Niobe and her Worshippers, with Apollo and Diana and other Figures, MET
