Collection: Bartolomeo Manfredi

Bartolomeo Manfredi, baptised on August 25, 1582, in Ostiano, near Cremona, was an Italian painter who died in Rome on December 12, 1622. He was a leading member of the Caravaggisti, followers of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, in the early 17th century. Manfredi's work established him as a significant figure in the Roman Baroque.

Manfredi specialized in genre scenes, depicting the everyday lives of soldiers, card players, and revelers in taverns, alongside religious and mythological subjects and portraits. His style closely emulated Caravaggio's dramatic chiaroscuro and naturalism, to the extent that works like Cupid Chastised were at times attributed to Caravaggio himself. Manfredi often preferred painting for private patrons rather than pursuing public commissions.

Manfredi's approach to Caravaggism exerted considerable influence on subsequent generations of painters, particularly among French, German, and Dutch Utrecht Caravaggists. The Flemish painter Gerard Seghers was among his students.