Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane

July 2012 - Andrew Graham-Dixon, art critic. For 400 years Caravaggio's staggering artistic achievements have thrilled viewers, yet his volatile personal trajectory—the murder of Ranuccio Tommassoni, the doubt surrounding Caravaggio's sexuality, the chain of events that began with his imprisonment on Malta and ended with his premature death—has long confounded historians. Andrew Graham-Dixon delves into the original Italian sources, presenting fresh details about Caravaggio's life (1571-1610), his many crimes and public brawls, and the most convincing account yet published of the painter's tragic death at the age of thirty-eight. With illuminating readings of Caravaggio's infamous religious paintings, for which Caravaggio often used prostitutes and poor people as models, Graham-Dixon immerses listeners into the artist's world, during the height of the Counter-Reformation in Italy, and creates a masterful profile of the mercurial painter's life and work.