L’equivoco di un nome: il “Caravaggio” citato in una lettera al cardinale Federico Borromeo non era il pittore ma il banchiere Giuseppe Caravaggio

The author refutes the hypothesis proposed by Maurizio Calvesi in 1975 and reiterated in his later work, according to which the “Caravaggio” mentioned in a 1607 letter addressed to Cardinal Federico Borromeo was the painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Through new extensive archival documentation, the scholar – who had already raised well-founded doubts about this identification in a 2021 essay – demonstrates that the reference was in fact to Giuseppe Caravaggio, a banker and merchant also in the service of Cardinal Borromeo. This banker managed some financial transactions related to the acquisition of manuscripts destined for the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, which would be inaugurated in 1609. The essay carefully reconstructs the roles of some collaborators who served Cardinal Federico and emphasizes the importance of rigorous analysis of historical and archival sources in order to avoid misinterpretations and distorted hypotheses, particularly in the biography of a prominent figure such as the Lombard painter Caravaggio.