Listen to ArtMuse’s episode on Fillide Melandroni. Fillide was the most consistent model that Caravaggio ever used and became an important figure in his life. She could pose as Saint Catherine one day and Judith the next, but Fillide herself was just as fierce as the biblical heroines she modeled as; a fearlessly confident prostitute with a crooked hand and gaze that could pierce as sharply as a sword.

Fillide’s appearance in Caravaggio’s works coincided with the launch of the style he is best known for: the dark and violent scenes painted with such bravado that they continue to shock viewers today. Fillide’s spirited presence in these works was just as responsible for the development of Caravaggio’s matured artistic voice as Caravaggio himself and her role in informing his artistic practice deserves recognition.
Her story includes romance, violence, murder, and exile, but most of all, it is the story of an independent woman who was able to climb the ranks of Rome’s social world and work her way from poverty to luxury, through her own hard work and personal drive. 
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