Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born in 1571. At the age of 6 he was orphaned by an outbreak of bubonic plague, and at the age of 11 he moved to Milan. There he trained as a painter under Simone Peterzano, who had himself trained under Titian. Then, at 16, he moved to Rome to make his living where there was great demand for religious paintings.
When Caravaggio was in his early 20s his work was noticed by Cardinal Francesco del Monte, who gave the artist a room, board and a pension. Then, in 1597, he was commissioned to decorate a part of the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. He was tasked with painting three large paintings, each showing a different scene from the life of Saint Matthew. The realistic style of the resultant paintings upset some viewers, and one of the works, Saint Matthew and the Angel, had to be redone in a more reverential fashion.