Caravaggio or more accurately Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Milan 1571
- Porto Ercole 1610) was a legend even in his own lifetime. Celebrated by some for his naturalism & his revolutionary pictorial inventions he was considered by others to have destroyed painting. Few other artists have attracted such controversial & contradictory interpretations right up to modern times & to the latest art historical research. The book offers a comprehensive new examination of the whole of Caravaggios oeuvre with a catalogue raisonee of his works. Five introductory chapters analyse his artistic career from his training in Lombard Milan & his triumphal rise in papal Rome up to his dramatic final years in Naples Malta & Sicily. The spotlight thereby falls upon the radical nature & innovative force of his art & its influence in all of Europe. Our understanding of Caravaggios work has been substantially broadened in recent decades by major exhibitions restoration campaigns new attributions & archival discoveries. The new catalogue raisonee offers a detailed overview of Caravaggios entire oeuvre on the basis of the latest research. All the paintings are documented in large-scale reproductions & spectacular detail illustrations that set new standards in their scope & quality.