Michelangelo Merisi di Caravaggio (1571-1610) is one of the stars of the summer exhibitions in the capital. Owner of the shadows and chiaroscuro, fond of the foreshortening, his painting has deeply influenced in painters of France, Holland and Flanders, especially of the School of Utrecht, and this connection is the theme of the show thatThyssen-Bornemisza Museum has prepared from June 21 to September 18, 2016 (it will be a very "Caravaggian" summer because the Royal Palace also announced a retrospective of the painter at that time!)

Thyssen exhibition, with some 60 works -12 of them by the Lombardian master, from his Roman period to the most emotional and dark pieces of his last years - from private collections, museums and institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of NY, the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Dutch Rijksmuseum or San Pietro in Rome, portrays the mastery of Italian, its unique use of the brush in the service of hyperrealism, its evolution,and all the powerful influence he had on the painters of northern Europe: Dirk van Baburen, Gerrit van Honthorst, Hendrick ter Brugghen, Nicolas Regnier, Louis Finson, Simon Vouet, Claude Vignon or Valentin Boulogne.

Caravaggio and northern painters, curated by Gert Jan van der Sman, member of the Istituto Universitario di Storia dell'Arte Olandese in Florence (University of Utrecht), highlights the legacy of the Lombard artist and diversity of reactions caused by his painting.