by Jude Cowell
Checking the bio page of chiaroscuro genius Caravaggio (nee Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio) we find that the famous Baroque painter is a Sun Libra born on September 29, 1571 in Milan, Italy, hour unknown. Of course, Libra, ruled by lovely Venus, associates herself with the Arts and with Culture, and is often prominent in the astrology charts of artists. For Caravaggio, she's in earthy Virgo, sign of The Virgin of immaculate conception which suggests the religious themes of his paintings.
Venus-Pluto = Neptune: The Arts; A Love Narcosis
As a lifelong artist myself, born with a planetary pattern between Venus, Neptune, and Pluto, my suspicion is that the same trio in Caravaggio's Natal Horoscope is a good place to scope out his significant artistic abilities, made more powerful and dramatic for him (not for me!) by a Jupiter-Pluto Conjunction in creative Pisces, the sign that "likes the shades".
Specifically, a T-Square between a Venus-Pluto opposition points toward natal Neptune in late Gemini with quicksilver Mercury ruler of Gemini suggesting his habit of painting directly from life and never from preliminary drawings. Street folk were his models and he sometimes included himself in his paintings. With a libertine image and his passionate lifestyle, his paintings and his behavior often caused controversy and conflict.
Add to this a volcanic temper and a large ego, and the following bi-wheel of horoscopes showing his speculatively timed Natal Chart (inner; 1571) surrounded by a 1610 Death Chart speculatively timed by his natal Uranus conjunct an Angle (Uranus, planet of genius, but also of assault, shock, disruption, and sudden separation) could make sense. Penned on are a few difficult 1610 transits full of negative energies such as 1610 Saturn opposing natal Mars, Pluto opposing natal Saturn and Mercury, and 1610 Mars opposing natal Sun. And depending on the degree of his natal Moon (from 18AQ18 to 2Pis34), transit Saturn Rx could also have hit his natal Moon at some point; notably, all the listed 1610 transits have health implications.
And although the timing of either or both horoscopes may be off, the following bi-wheel provides us with an interesting astro-study of an enigmatic, charismatic, intriguing, little-known artistic genius of a long ago era:
Now if you have 24 minutes to spare, don't miss Caravaggio: The Murderous Artist Who Died in Mystery, a Waldemar Januszczak documentary.
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