Baroque period Michelangelo Merisi Da Caravaggio and the figure

The figure, as the concrete and formalized form of images, is not actually the symbol of a certain meaning, but the visual counterpart of the action that becomes the meaning itself. The individual who develops in art, which begins with meaning, shows himself as a figure in the art of painting. The depiction of the figure as a human being in painting is discussed through the human as an anatomical object, the human is represented as a subject, and the image is presented in the narrative as an entity. Epistemologically, the figure functions as an informational subject and a meaning-producing structure that transcends visual representation; where truth, knowledge and existence are questioned through art. While the figure maintained its symbolic-theological continuity during the Renaissance, from the 15th century onwards it reached a new level of representation by turning to the human image with aesthetic integrity, based on anatomy. The historical transformations of the figure, which gained metaphysical depth and philosophical expansion under the influence of Neoplatonism and was approached with formal experimentation, emotional intensity and a cryptic narrative with the subsequent 16th century Mannerism, have been identified as dynamics that intersect with modern art in the theoretical and aesthetic development of art.In the 17th century Baroque period, the figure transformed into an aesthetic representation of the sacred in the Catholic tradition, while in Protestant art it appears to have been drawn to a secular plane. Caravaggio, the pioneer artist of the period, went beyond thisframework and carried iconography to a secular plane, making visible the figure's orientation towards the modern subject and its existential journey. In the case of Caravaggio, the dimensions of meaning attributed to the figure by the artist through his ontological existence and intellectual orientation have been identified within the framework of aesthetic and ontological achievements; their influence on modern and contemporary art has been evaluated with an interdisciplinary approach and a holistic perspective on art history has been presented. Keywords: Figure, Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque, Caravaggio.