The masterful paintings of 16th-century artist Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610), better known as Caravaggio, continue to fascinate more than 400 years after his death. The artist's paintings combine a gritty, realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, and make dramatic use of chiaroscuro.

Caravaggio is also remembered as a wild, violent character who fled Rome after receiving a death sentence for killing a man in a dual. The artist died in 1610 in Porte Ercole, in mysterious circumstances, aged 38.