Criminals and Courtesans: Caravaggio’s 20 Most Famous Paintings
By the late 16th century, art in Central Italy had hit a plateau. Still in the shadow of Renaissance greats like Michelangelo and Raphael, painters strove to capture the ideal of beauty embodied in the muscular figures and bright classical backdrops of these earlier masters. Then arrived Caravaggio, who in the words of one near contemporary had…