"Some artists feel a strong compulsion to depict what is coarse and ugly, yet develop out of these elements both passion and power - even a kind of peculiar magnificence, which has grown out of a particular feeling or disposition. Accordingly, whilst the resulting picture may not strike a viewer as edifying, it frequently creates a very powerful and moving impression."

In Search of the Artist

Essential Features of Caravaggio's Art

Inset: The Imitation of Nature, the Ideal, and the Hierarchy of Genres

Arrangements of Objects and Figures

Inset: Caravaggio and the Grapes of Zeuxis

Caravaggio's Contribution to Genre-painting

Inset: On Deciphering the Pictures of the Rest during the Flight into Egypt - A Pastoral or Caravaggio's First Great Work?

Caravaggio as Narrator: History Paintings in Rome

The Altarpieces for Rome

The Altarpieces of Caravaggio's First Stay in Naples

On the Run in Malta and Sicily

Retrospective

Chronology

Glossary

Selected Bibliography

Photographic Credits