Bartolomeo Manfredi, August 25, 1582 – December 12, 1622, was an Italian Baroque painter and one of the earliest and most influential followers of Caravaggio. Working primarily in Rome, he helped establish the dramatic style known as Caravaggism through his powerful use of light, naturalistic figures, and closely observed scenes from everyday life and the Bible.

Although little is known about his early training, Manfredi developed a distinctive interpretation of Caravaggio’s innovations. His paintings of musicians, gamblers, soldiers, saints, and biblical narratives were widely admired and became models for many artists from Italy and northern Europe. His influence was especially important in shaping the work of later Caravaggisti.

Manfredi died in Rome at the age of forty. Though his career was relatively brief, his paintings remain among the finest examples of early seventeenth-century Italian Baroque art and are preserved in major museum collections throughout Europe, Japan, and the United States.

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