April 26, 2026, to October 25, 2026
Mint Museum Uptown
Valentin de Boulogne, known as Le Valentin (French, 1591–1632).
Denial of St. Peter, 1615–17, oil on canvas.
Florence, Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell’Arte Roberto Longhi.
About the exhibition
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, better known as Caravaggio, is known for his realistic style, which broke with Renaissance ideals and depicted subjects with their natural flaws. His use of light and shadow created drama and emotion in his works. Caravaggio Revolution: Baroque Masterpieces from the Roberto Longhi Foundation is the first exhibition in North Carolina in a century to shine a light on how Caravaggio's radical realism transformed not only painting, but the very language of modern film, photography, and popular culture.
Caravaggio’s revolutionary use of shadow and light, known as “chiaroscuro,” and his unflinching depiction of the non-idealized masses shattered the polished conventions of 17th-century art. This exhibition connects that 400-year-old creative spark to the imagery that defines our time. Through film clips, photographs, and commentary from modern masters this exhibit reveals how Caravaggio’s vision continues to shape the visual language of storytelling today.
About the artists
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi, 1571–1610) was a revolutionary Italian painter and the first great master of the Baroque style. Known for his volatile, violent temperament, he produced intense, realistic religious works characterized by tenebrism—a dramatic, high-contrast style of lighting. He often used ordinary people as models, bringing raw humanity to biblical scenes.
His paintings have been characterized by art critics as combining a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, which had a formative influence on Baroque painting. Caravaggio employed close physical observation with a dramatic use of chiaroscuro that came to be known as tenebrism. He made the technique a dominant stylistic element, transfixing subjects in bright shafts of light and darkening shadows. Caravaggio vividly expressed crucial moments and scenes, often featuring violent struggles, torture, and death. He worked rapidly, with live models, preferring to forgo drawings and work directly onto the canvas. His inspiring effect on the new Baroque style that emerged from Mannerism was profound.
His influence can be seen directly or indirectly in the work of Peter Paul Rubens, Jusepe de Ribera, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and Rembrandt.
About the collector
Roberto Longhi (1890–1970) was a renowned Italian art historian, critic, and academic, primarily credited with rediscovering and re-evaluating the painter Caravaggio. Known for his brilliant, stylistic prose, he taught at the University of Bologna and created a lasting legacy in art historical studies and connoisseurship.
He is credited for bringing Caravaggio back to prominence in the mid-20th century, highlighting his "everyday drama" and influence, particularly through a 1951 ground-breaking exhibition on Caravaggio at the Royal Palace in Milan, Mostra di Caravaggio e dei Caravaggeschi. In 1968 he authored a monograph on the artist. He left his art collection, library, and villa to the Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell'Arte Roberto Longhi in Florence, which promotes advanced study in art history.
Articles
Videos
Bibliography
*Not in Mint Library collection
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Created by Harold Escalante
