Caravaggio Master Palette

Palette Analysis

Values in Caravaggio rest in the mid-range - neither dramatically lit nor steeped in shadow. Warm hues command this palette; Caravaggio favours the reds, oranges, and yellows of firelight and earth. Saturation is deliberately withheld - the beauty here lies in the near-monochromatic gradations rather than colour difference. The saturated accent, #994B29, registers at 4.1% - sparse enough to feel like a deliberate surprise. A value spread of 65 units gives the palette both depth and air - shadows are genuinely dark, lights genuinely light. These proportions encode Caravaggio's instinctive sense of how much of each quality the eye can hold.