Caravaggio, or more accurately Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), was a legend even in his own lifetime. Notorious bad boy of Italian painting, the artist was at once celebrated and controversial: ** Violent in temper, precise in technique, a creative master, and a man on the run**.

Caravaggio, or more accurately Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), was a legend even in his own lifetime. Notorious bad boy of Italian painting, the artist was at once celebrated and controversial: ** Violent in temper, precise in technique, a creative master, and a man on the run**.

This work offers a ** comprehensive reassessment of Caravaggio's entire œuvre** with a catalogue raisonné of his works. Each painting is reproduced in large format, with recent, high production photography allowing for ** dramatic close-ups with Caravaggio's ingenious details of looks and gestures.**

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 ** boundary-breaking naturalism** which allowed even biblical events to unfold with an unprecedented immediacy before the viewer.