Polidoro da Caravaggio (ca. 1499–ca. 1543)

• Was an Italian painter.
• He was unrelated to the later painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
• According to Vasari, whilst working as a labourer carrying the materials for the builders of the Vatican logge he ingratiated himself with the artists, and attracted the admiration of Maturino da Firenze, one of Raphael's main assistants.

• He then joined Raphael's large workshop, in about 1517, and worked on the Raphael Rooms in the Vatican. 

• When the sack of Rome by the army of Charles V in 1527, Polidoro fled to Naples, and from there to Messina, where he was very successful. 

• Polidoro's main paintings include a Crucifixion, painted in Messina, and a Deposition of Christ (1527) and a Christ Carrying the Cross (1530–34) both in the Museo di Capodimonte of Naples.

• One of his pupils is Deodato Guinaccia.

• According to Vasari, Polidoro was firmly resolved to return to Rome after completing significant projects in Messina.

• In order to make preparations for this trip, he withdrew all of his savings from the bank for the trip to Rome.

• Upon discovering this, one of Polidoro's workmen, along with several accomplices, resolved to put the master to death on the following night. 

• Polidoro da Caravaggio was robbed and murdered then by an assistant, Tonno Calabrese, in 1543. 

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