CARAVAGGIO WAS A MAN WHO MADE ENEMIES EASILY. A QUICK TEMPERED, INTOLERANT ARTISTIC GENIUS WHO WAS FOND OF A DRINK AND PRONE TO VIOLENCE, HE WAS FREQUENTLY IN TROUBLE WITH THE AUTHORITIES AND EVENTUALLY FLED ROME AFTER BEING ACCUSED OF MURDERING A FORMER FRIEND IN A GANG FIGHT. THIS UNCOUTH UPSTART ALSO OUTRAGED THE ARTISTIC ESTABLISHMENT BY BY-PASSING TRADITIONAL TRAINING METHODS AND GIVING YOUNG PAINTERS THE IDEA THAT ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS PUT BRUSH TO PALETTE AND BARE CANVAS. YET HE ALSO HAD GREAT FRIENDS AND PASSIONATE FOLLOWERS AND HIS REVOLUTIONARY TECHNIQUES INSPIRED ARTISTS ACROSS EUROPE. THE EXTRAORDINARY RANGE OF EMOTIONS AROUSED BY CARAVAGGIO IS PORTRAYED IN 'CARAVAGGIO'S FRIENDS & FOES', A MAJOR LOAN EXHIBITION HELD BY WHITFIELD FINE ART THROUGH 23.JULY. THE EXHIBITION WHICH MARKS THE 400tH ANNIVERSARY OF CARAVAGGIO'S DEATH, INCLUDES PAINTINGS BY HIS DEADLY ENEMIES GIOVANNI BAGLIONE AND TOMMASO SALINI, HIS LOYAL FRIENDS LOUIS FINSON AND PROSPERO ORSI, THE PAINTERS ANTIVEDUTO GRAMMATICA AND CAVALIER D'ARPINO, WHOSE STUDENTS HE WORKED IN WHEN HE ARRIVED IN ROME, AND CLOSE FOLLOWERS SUCH AS LO SPADARINO, ORAZIO GENILESCHI AND SIMON VOUET. AMONG THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EXHIBITION AT THE WHITFIELD FINE ART ARE A MAGNIFICENT SELF PORTRAIT PAINTED IN 1606 BY GIOVANNI BAGLIONE, ARGUABLY CARAVAGGIO'S MOST BITTER ENEMY. BAGLIONE WAS IMPRESSED BY CARAVAGGIO'S TECHNIQUE AND THIS SELF-PORTRAIT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN PAINTED TO TRY TO SHOW THAT HE COULD MACH HIS RIVAL'S SKILLS. IRONICALLY BAGLIONE WAS THE EARLIEST PUBLISHED BIOGRAPHER OF CARAVAGGIO YET HE WAS ANGERED BY THE SUCCESS OF SOMEONE WHO HAD NO EXPERIENCE OF PAINTING FIGURES AND HAD BY-PASSED THE TRADITIONAL TRAINING WHICH EARLY 17th CENTURY ARTISTS RECEIVED. BAGLIONE FAMOUSLY SUED CARAVAGGIO FOR LIBEL IN 1603 AFTER HE HAD CIRCULATED SATIRICAL POEMS ABOUT A PAINTING HE HAD DONE FOR A CHURCH IN ROME. CARAVAGGIO WAS JAILED BUT LATER RELEASED UNDER HOUSE ARREST.
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