Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) has always been a name of great weight. Considered the "bad boy" of the Italian Baroque, the artist was both celebrated and controversial: a violent character, impeccable technique, a creative master, and, for much of his life, a man on the run.

Although renowned for his dramatic use of color, light, and shadow, it was above all his radical and explosive naturalism that etched Caravaggio's name into the annals of art history. From the dirty soles of his feet to the languid sensuality of his naked flesh, the artist also allowed sacred and biblical scenes to unfold with a surprising, often visceral, humanity. This intense visual universe corresponded with an equally fraught personal existence, marked by gambling, debt, tavern brawls, and even a murder accusation.

This book brings together over 50 of Caravaggio's most celebrated and groundbreaking works to explore how and why the artist is today considered the most important painter of the early Baroque and one of the defining figures in art history—without whom Ribera, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Delacroix, Courbet, and Manet would never have painted as we know them.

The author
Gilles Lambert was born in Paris in 1928. In love with Italy, he lived between Paris and Rome and translated numerous studies on the 17th century from Italian. Together with André Labarthe, he founded the magazine Constellation in the 1950s and later worked for Le Figaro Littéraire and Paris Match . He is the author of monographs on Auguste Mariette and Caravaggio.