Michelangelo Merisi, nicknamed Caravaggio (1571–1610), is one of the most amazing and mysterious artists of the era when Baroque art replaced the Renaissance. Between these two styles, the work of Caravaggio got lost, introducing into mythological and biblical subjects the life of the Roman street with its characteristic types - cheaters, prostitutes, hired killers. Matching the painter’s contradictory, contrasting creations was his life, full of wanderings, scandalous incidents and clashes with the law and ending with a mysterious death on a deserted seashore. The book by the famous expert on Italy, culturologist and translator Alexander Makhov recreates the biography of Caravaggio, full of ambiguities and blind spots, accompanying it with a detailed analysis of the artist’s works that have come down to us.

[Adapted for AlReader]