trumpets,” Capponi retorted, “And we shall ring our
bells” (i.e. summon the citizens to fight in the streets).
The king backed off. Unluckily for the Florentine
republic, Capponi was soon afterwards killed fighting in
the ill-starred war against the Pisans.
During the second Medicean expulsion, Niccolò di
Piero (died 1529) was twice elected gonfaloniere (1527,
1528) but he was forced to resign when his attempts to
make peace with the Medicean pope Clement VII were
construed as high treason. After the restoration of the
Medici (1530) many of the family were forced into exile.
Capra, Villa See ROTONDA, VILLA
Capuchins A branch of the Franciscans founded in the
1520s by Matteo di Bassi of Urbino, who wished to return
to the original austerity of the Franciscan rule. The habit,
based on St. Francis’s own garb, includes the pointed cowl
(capuche) that gives the order its name. Despite initial
disapproval from other Franciscans, the Capuchin rule
was established in 1529 and their preaching and mis-
sionary zeal made them valued agents of the COUNTER-
REFORMATION. In 1619 they were recognized as an inde-
pendent order, by which time they had spread all over
Europe.
Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da (1573–1610)
Italian painter
Born at Caravaggio, near Bergamo, he was trained in
Milan by an undistinguished mannerist and was influ-
enced by contact with the works of Venetian painters. He
was in Rome by 1592, where his tempestuous nature led
to trouble with the police, and his refusal to adopt the
method favored in central Italy of careful preparation
prior to painting caused controversy. Until his fortunes
improved in 1597 he or she lived in poverty, painting still
lifes and portraits and working for other painters; in that
year the influence of Cardinal del Monte, who admired
and bought his work, lead to a commission to decorate the
chapel of San Luigi dei Francesi. Much of this work was
subsequently rejected by the clergy on grounds of indeco-
rum or theological error before it was finally finished in
- The same difficulties arose with his work in Sta.
Maria del Popolo (1600–01). In fact opinion about his
work was sharply divided: paintings that were angrily re-
jected by some clergy were eagerly bought by cardinals
and noblemen who admired them. The reason was Car-
avaggio’s scorn for traditional idealized representations of
religious subjects and his insistence on naturalism to-
gether with dramatic use of chiaroscuro. Paintings such as
the Madonna di Loreto (Sant’ Agostino, Rome) and the
Death of the Virgin (Louvre, Paris) introduced sweat and
dirt into religious art, and the bloated corpse of the dead
Virgin is said to have been painted from that of a drowned
prostitute.
Caravaggio’s personal life also remained stormy: in
1603 he was involved in a libel action by Giovanni
Baglioni, who later became his biographer, and in 1606 he
had to leave Rome after stabbing his opponent during a
game of tennis. He fled to Naples and in 1607 to Malta
where he was made a knight by the grand master of the
KNIGHTS HOSPITALER, whose portrait he painted. However,
after assaulting a judiciary he was imprisoned in 1608 but
escaped to Sicily, pursued by agents of the knights. In
1609 he was wounded in a tavern brawl in Naples and he
died of malaria the following year at age 37 while on his
way back to Rome where friends were attempting to
arrange a pardon for him. The paintings produced in
Naples, Malta, and Sicily showed an even greater economy
of style than those of his Rome period. They were dark
pictures with little color and had an intense stillness new
to his work. Caravaggio’s work, produced in such a short
time, inspired the Caravaggisti school in Spain and had a
strong influence on the development of baroque painting.
Further reading: Howard Hibbard, Caravaggio (New
York: Harper & Row and London: Thames & Hudson,
1983); John T. Spike et al, Caravaggio (New York:
Abbeville, 2001).Caravaggio, Polidoro Caldara da See POLIDORO CAL-
DARA DA CARAVAGGIOcaravel (carvel, Portuguese caravela) A type of small, la-
teen-rigged, two- or three-masted sailing ship developed
in southern Europe and used on the epic voyages of dis-
covery in the 15th and 16th centuries. The name is asso-ccaarraavveell 8 899Caravel A Portuguese caravel (c. 1450). This little ship took
part in many of the voyages of exploration in the 15th
century. Its lateen sails, based on Arab nautical prowess,
enabled it to sail against the wind.