In the course of a short and violent life, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio revolutionized painting, producing a style of shockingly immediate realism that swept through Europe and still resonates today. Almost everything we know about his life comes from these three early biographies, and they reflect the often horrified fascination that Caravaggio exerted on his contemporaries. Giorgio Mancini, his physician, underscored the value of Caravaggio’s revival of painting. Giovanni Baglione, a mediocre rival, is far less generous, but unable to hide his awe. The leading art historian of the following generation, Giovanni Pietro Bellori, produced a more balanced assessment, with detailed analyses of many of his major paintings. The Lives of Caravaggio is introduced by Helen Langdon, the leading expert on the painter, who elucidates the historical and artistic context of these biographies.
