Few artists have generated so much fascination and revolutionized the history of art as profoundly as Michelangelo Merisi, better known as Caravaggio (1571–1610). He was a hot-headed, anti-social outlaw and murderer who despite a short lifespan created a sensation with a bold naturalistic style—one that evoked intense drama and emotion through theatrical light and expressive, often violent gestures. He was both loved and reviled by his contemporaries for this new approach to realism.
Author Ross King explores the life and times of this complicated man and puts his innovative paintings and notorious lifestyle into the context of Rome’s turbulent first decade of the 17th century, which witnessed a crisis in the Catholic Church as well as the rise of Galileo and his new science.
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