Caravaggio

About Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) was a revolutionary Italian Baroque painter whose dramatic use of light and shadow, known as Tenebrism, profoundly influenced subsequent generations of artists. His intense realism and emotional depth brought religious and mythological scenes to visceral life, cementing his status as a master of the period. MIT's Pantheon project ranks him as the 223rd most historically important figure globally, reflecting his lasting impact on Western art history.

Caravaggio's modern internet attention appears relatively balanced with his historical weight, showing an Attention Gap of approximately 1x. He accrued 924K Wikipedia views in 2025, suggesting a moderate, stable level of online interest. This contrasts sharply with figures ranked significantly lower in historical importance, such as Andy Warhol (#701 importance, 2.0M views), who garners more than double the attention despite a lower HPI ranking. However, his attention is currently outpacing that of some figures deemed much more crucial, like Louis XIV of France (#42 importance), who received only 213K views last year.

While his overall attention is proportional, his momentum figures show recent fluctuations: a 15% increase in attention between Q1 and Q3 of 2025 indicates a potential recent uptick in cultural interest, though this follows an overall year-over-year decline of 18.9%.