By Anne Leader
On 29 May 1606, the great Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio killed Ranuccio Tommasoni in Rome. The artist and Tommasoni began to brawl over a bet on a tennis game. This event was the last in a series of troubles Caravaggio brought upon himself through his volatile temperament. He fled the city that had been his home since 1592 fearing arrest and execution.
He first hid on estates owned by the Colonna who shared a Lombard heritage with Caravaggio. Though on the run, Caravaggio continued to paint, completing works such as his second Supper at Emmaus (Milan, Brera) and a now-lost Magdalene.* He was in Naples by October, and also spent time in Malta and Sicily.
Andrew Graham-Dixon has proposed that rather than a fight over a bet, Caravaggio and Tommasoni were instead fighting over a prostitute, Fillide Melandroni. A report written by the barber surgeon who examined Tomassoni’s dead body indicates that Tomassoni bled to death through the femoral artery in his groin, suggesting that Caravaggio had tried to castrate him. According to Graham-Dixon, “… particular wounds in Roman street fights meant particular things. If a man insulted another man’s reputation he might have his face cut. If a man insulted a man’s woman he would get his penis cut off.“
*For a discussion on two versions of Saint Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, one of which is mentioned in this article, see: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2018/11/14/double-vision-paris-show-displays-two-mary-magdalene-caravaggios
Reference: John Gash. “Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web.
Further reading: Caravaggio by Catherine Puglisi (2000); Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane by Andrew Graham-Dixon (2011).
Supper at Emmaus, 1606, oil on canvas, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
The Crucifixion of St Andrew, c. 1607, oil on canvas, Museum of Art, Cleveland
Ottavio Leoni, Portrait of Caravaggio, ca. 1621. Florence: Biblioteca Marucelliana.
Christ at the Column, c. 1607, oil on canvas, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen
Madonna del Rosario, c. 1607, oil on canvas, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
The Seven Acts of Mercy, c. 1607, oil on canvas, Pio Monte della Misericordia, Naples
Flagellation, c. 1607, oil on canvas, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
Portrait of a Courtesan (Fillide Melandroni?), ca. 1597, oil on canvas, formerly Berlin (destroyed 1945)
When was this written? It says that the Magdalene painting is lost and I was wondering if you were writing about the Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy painting found in 2014? I am writing a paper about Caravaggio and would greatly appreciate an answer!
Hi Lijia,
Here’s a useful link to an article that discusses the 2014 attribution.
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2018/11/14/double-vision-paris-show-displays-two-mary-magdalene-caravaggios
Hope this helps!
Hello!
do we know where Caravaggio stabbed Ranuccio Tommasoni ? Really what part or Rome?
I would also love to know what part of Rome he lived in?
Thanks!
I initially assumed that the incident took place at the Vicole de’ Pantani, which is where the tennis courts were located. Avvisi from the time however, state that Tomassoni was murdered in the Via della Scrofa, but that the fatal wound had been executed in the Via di Pellacorda. The victim lived at the Rotanda – next to the pantheon. Caravaggio was living at the home of Cardinal dal Monte, for whom he had been working.