THE ILLUSIONIST: Caravaggio — a life of excess, genius, riches, poverty, love and tragedy. (English Edition)

Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio after the village he comes from, has risen from penniless obscurity to become the most controversial painter of his age. He is fêted by Princes, Dukes, Cardinals, and a scheming Pope. He makes fortunes fast and spends them just as quickly but when he kills a man in a duel over a game of tennis his world is shattered. Under sentence of death he flees from Rome with his lover Cecco, riding towards the destiny that will lead him into everlasting fame. Here is the first-hand account, taken from Cecco’s journal which he keeps with him in Napoli. When he dies it is to be buried with him, but at the last moment it is saved by the great Contessa Constanza Sforza-Colonna, so that those who come after her may know of the love she bore for the boy from Caravaggio, and the secrets of such a strange and riotous life.