,
Naples. Regarded as Battistello's masterpiece, it vividly captures the emotion of the scene as
Peter is
led from prison by an angel. His initial training was said to be with
Francesco Imparato and
Fabrizio Santafede, but the first impulse that directed his art came from Caravaggio's sudden arrival in Naples in late 1606. Caravaggio had fled there after killing a man in a brawl in
Rome, and he arrived at the end of September or beginning of October 1606. His stay in the city lasted only about eight months, with another brief visit in 1609/1610 leading to his 1610–1615
Baptism of Christ, yet his impact on artistic life there was profound. Caracciolo, only five years younger than Caravaggio, was among the first Neapolitans to adopt the startling new style with its sombre palette, dramatic
tenebrism, and sculptural figures in a shallow picture plane defined by light rather than by perspective. He is considered to be the solitary founder of the Neapolitan school of Caravaggism. Among the other Neapolitan
Caravaggisti were
Giuseppe Ribera,
Carlo Sellitto,
Artemisia Gentileschi, and Caracciolo's pupil,
Mattia Preti, then early in his career. Caracciolo's Caravaggesque phase was fundamental to his entire career. His first contact with Caravaggio must have been around the time of the
Radolovich commission, dated 6 October 1606, and the contacts continued through Caravaggio's completion of the
Seven Works of Mercy during the last months of that year and early 1607. A notable result of Caravaggio's influence is Caracciolo's
The Crucifixion of Christ, with its strong echoes of the
Crucifixion of Saint Andrew. In 1607, he painted the
Immaculate Conception for the
Santa Maria della Stella in Naples. It is considered to be his first documented Caravaggesque painting. In 1612, he made a trip to
Rome. A work showing the influence of this visit, and especially that of
Orazio Gentileschi, is the
Liberation of Saint Peter (1615), painted for the
Pio Monte della Misericordia, to hang next to Caravaggio's
Seven Works of Mercy painted for the same church. By this time he had become the leader of the new Neapolitan school, dividing his time between religious subjects (altarpieces and, unusually for a Caravaggist, frescos) and paintings for private patrons. After 1618 he visited
Genoa, Rome and
Florence. In Rome he came under the influence of the revived
Classicism of the
Carracci cousins and the
Emilian school, and began working towards a synthesis of their style with his own
tenebrism – his
Cupid, with its bravura handling of the red cloth, shows the influence of the Carracci synthesis. Back in Naples, he translated this into grandiose, wide-ranging scenes including his masterpiece
Christ Washing the Feet of the Disciples of 1622, painted for the
Certosa di San Martino. He also painted further works in the
Certosa di San Martino,
Santa Maria La Nova and
San Diego all'Ospedaletto and these works of the late second decade of the 17th century onward, show the strong influence of Bolognese classicism he might have been exposed to in Rome. He died in Naples, in the few days between creating his last will, on 19 December 1635, and 24 December 1635, when it was opened and read. == Gallery ==