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The man run what essentially was a beautiful scam on churches. He was comissioned to paint saint and virgins. He would use local prostitutes as models (it is mentioned in the article he was condemed for the murder of a pimp). So when the paintings were presented to the church, the locals (and sometimes even the priests) would recognise the models and there would be some uproar of using the likeness of a streetwalker to paint the virgin mary. So the painting would get removed and most of the time a private owner (sometimes higher ups in the church) would buy them for their personal collection. Too scandalous for the public, but perfect for my own palace.
There was a very famous incident of this where he painted Mary's death. Usually this is a very holy moment in Christianity and it's painted as such. Caravaggio did not. He painted it in a dirty tent, in a very human way with her passing away. This was Strike One. Secondly he modeled the death after a famous body that was retrived from the river in Rome, a girl had drowned and tons of people had seen her lifeless body be pulled out of the water, and they could now see that same girl being virgin mary. Strike Two. And the last strike was that the woman was not any girl, but one of the most famous prostitutes of the city and one seen very regularly with Caravaggio. Painting your ex gf prostitute who died unceremonoiously drowned as the holyest figure outside of christ was a big issue at the time.
The painting however is still gorgeous and would urge anyone travelling to Paris (in the Louvre) to go see it. Not as "another virgin" painting, which you will find infinite Madonna paintings in Europe. But as one of the first paintings not sanctifying her death and as a sad goodbye from Caravaggio to someone important to him
Then I saw a few live. The chiaroscuro theatre of shadow and light, the insane details, the dynamic of each painting, the mastery it takes to reproduce such art pieces, it all humbled me as an artist in a way I did not expect. This man had such an insane talent, vision and skill to produce some of these paintings, their harshness matching his lifestyle.
If you have a chance to see some of his works in person, go for it, it will definitely pay off.
He's one of my favorite painters. Such depth and emotion. It's so fun to know more about how awful an actual person he was. Super cool that all of this information is still accessible 400 years later.