“For a painter whose name we’re not even sure of, who aggressively discouraged imitators, whose stormy, rumbustious life was curtailed by an early death, partly as a result of his own violent, impetuous nature, Caravaggio occupies an extraordinarily important role in the history of European painting. It’s hard to imagine Rembrandt’s work without him, for example, and Rubens and Velasquez were among an army of admirers He was an arrogant, violent brawler and a sexual outlaw as well as an artistic and social revolutionary who changed our perception of space.” Two new books shed new light on one of art’s most important yet unknown characters. – Irish Times