Only Caravaggio's turbulent life could rival the intensity of his paintings. Despite being a violent, aggressive person who frequently got into legal trouble and was suspected of more than one murder, he produced eye-catching, ground-breaking paintings. He pioneered dramatic lighting and the representation of religious figures in contemporary attire and attitudes. 

Caravaggio used strong light beams to draw attention to specific aspects of his pictures while working directly from life and without the use of preliminary drawings. He contrasted these well-lit regions with dark shadows elsewhere on the canvas. A key component of Caravaggio's extremely distinctive style, his use of chiaroscuro, was widely replicated by his contemporaries. Caravaggio, who only lived to be 39, had a significant impact on the painters around him and on following art trends, particularly in Baroque art and 19th-century Realism. (The Art Story, n.d.)