Caravaggio

A revolution in painting: The Baroque realism that electrified art historyMichelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) was always a name to be reckoned with. Notorious bad boy of the Italian Baroque, the artist was at once celebrated and controversial, violent in temper, precise in technique, a creative master, and a man on the run.Though famed for his dramatic use of color, light, and shadow, it was above all Caravaggio'sboundary-breaking realism which scorched his name into the annals of art history. From the dirtied soles of feat to the sexualised langor of bare flesh, the artist allowed even sacred and biblical scenes to unfold witha startling, often visceral, humanity. This vivid pictorial world was accompanied by an equally intense personal biography, scored by gambling, debts, drunken brawls, and even a murder charge.This book brings together Caravaggio's most famous and revolutionary works to explain why this artist is now consideredthe most important painter of the early Baroque period and one of thedefining influences of art history, without whom Ribera, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Delacroix, Courbet, and Manet, could never have painted the way they did.About the Series:Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art series features:a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importancea concise biographyapproximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions