The remains of Italian painter Caravaggio have been found in a cemetery at Porto Ercole, in Grosseto.
Via carbon dating and metal tests to determine the possible presence of lead and mercury residue (commonly used by painters), scientists are 85 percent sure that the bones identified by them are those of the 16-17th century artist.
It was believed that Caravaggio was buried in the Porto Ercole cemetery in 1610, so carbon dating has been used to determine the age of the bones.
Known as Caravaggio, the artist was, in fact, Michelangelo Merisi by name and so scientists started with the Merisi names in the cemetery.
Caravaggio is considered the ‘maestro’ of the school of Baroque art and his remains have been found just a few weeks before the 400th anniversary of his death (July 18, 1610).
Recently, an exhibition of his work in Rome had record crowd numbers attend and in an article in the New York Times, art historian Philip Sohm poses the question whether this “Michelangelo” Caravaggio has become more popular than the Michelangelo of the Renaissance.
With this timely find of the remains of Caravaggio, Baroque is back in the spotlight.
