Battistello Caracciolo

Battistello Caracciolo (1578–1635), baptised Giovanni Battista, was born in Naples and spent his career there, with visits to Rome, Genoa and Florence. His early training is said to have been with Francesco Imparato and Fabrizio Santafede, but the decisive event of his career was Caravaggio's arrival in Naples in 1606. He was among the first Neapolitans to take up Caravaggio's sombre palette and dramatic tenebrism, and is regarded as the founder of the Neapolitan school of Caravaggism; his Immaculate Conception of 1607 for Santa Maria della Stella is his first documented Caravaggesque painting. His Liberation of Saint Peter of 1615 was painted for the Pio Monte della Misericordia, to hang beside Caravaggio's Seven Works of Mercy. Later visits to Rome drew him towards the classicism of the Carracci, which he combined with his own tenebrism in Christ Washing the Feet of the Disciples of 1622 for the Certosa di San Martino. Mattia Preti was his pupil. Here: Liberation of Saint Peter, his picture for the Pio Monte.