How Caravaggista.com Started

After I graduated from UCLA, I wanted and needed to have a venue to write about art history, explore the current trends in the field, and discuss (with myself, perhaps) art historical writings. Caravaggista.com was the answer.

I created this site with the intention of providing its readers with trustworthy, easily comprehensible examinations of art history. Some posts are written with the goal of helping with some of the major struggles facing art history students today. If appropriate to the topic, I do my best to include at least one piece of scholarship or primary source in each post, which can be found in the Entries Bibliography page. Because there are a wealth of misconceptions about art history, I want to  extend my knowledge to the curious public, rather than keep such exciting information within academia.

What does Caravaggista mean? Where does it come from?

You might recognize the name “Caravaggista” as similar to the Caravaggisti, a group of Caravaggio-esque painters from the 16th and 17th centuries (although I don’t think to be a Caravaggisti you are bound by the constraints of time). The term “Caravaggista” comes from art historian Mary D. Garrard’s biography of Artemisia Gentileschi, of whom she wrote: “There are many Caravaggisti, but only one Caravaggista.“

Things this site will talk about a lot:

• Caravaggio.
• Anything and everything from the High Renaissance through the Baroque period in Italy
• Baroque art: Italian, Spanish, Dutch
• Artistic Intent/Art Theory (or attempts at such things)
• Religion! Religion is a central part of Italian, Spanish, and Dutch Renaissance and Baroque art.
• History! History is married to “art history.” If I left the history out of art history, I’d risk producing off-base work and would be sad to not be called an art historian.

If you have questions about the study of art or the methodologies of art history, feel free to email me and I will answer your questions gleefully and with a raving hunger, like a three-year-old in a candy store.