Caravaggio’s Life by Michelle Bassali

Bacchus (Carvaggio c.1596)

Recreated in Graphite Pencil by M. Bassali, 2015.

Caravaggio, an Italian artist, was born in 1571 in Milan. His father worked as a household administrator and architect-decorator to the Marchese of Caravaggio. His family maintained a connection with the Sforza’s and the powerful Colonna family who played a major role in Caravaggio’s later life. By the time he was thirteen, both his parents had passed away. In 1584, he started an apprenticeship with Simone Peterzano for four years.

During his career, he primarily painted, and this is what he was known for. He heavily relied on contrast (dark vs light). He painted portraits and people. Caravaggio is known for Baroque painting—a style that used exaggerated motion that showed drama and tension.

It looks like he did a lot of dramatic scenes in his work. Some of his paintings appear to have religious figures or symbolism. Another example is his painting called Head of Medusa (oil on wood) where he paints a mythological figure.

I chose to recreate Caravaggio’s Bacchus. I chose this piece because I knew if I did a duplicate of this piece in pencil, I would get a really good shading. I first printed out a photo of the work in black and white. Then, I cut out a four-by-four piece of paper. I used a Lightbox to trace over the work to get a general layout. I started working from light to dark. I put down a light foundation and worked off of this by adding more layers of pencil to build up the gradient.