Author Description

<p>Caravaggio, or more accurately Michelangelo Merisi da <b>Caravaggio</b> (1571-1610), was a legend even in his own lifetime. Notorious bad boy of Italian painting, the artist was at once celebrated and controversial: <b>Violent in temper, precise in technique, a creative master, and a man on the run</b>.<br> <br> This work offers a <b>comprehensive reassessment of Caravaggio's entire oeuvre</b> with a catalogue raisonné of his works. Each painting is reproduced in large format, with recent, high production photography allowing for <b>dramatic close-ups with Caravaggio's ingenious details of looks and gestures.</b><br> <br> Five introductory chapters analyze Caravaggio's artistic career from his early struggle to make a living, through his first public commissions in Rome, and his growing celebrity status. They look at his increasing daring with lighting and with a <b>boundary-breaking naturalism</b> which allowed even biblical events to unfold with an unprecedented immediacy before the viewer.</p>