Tormented genius

Culture | With paint as his medium, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio displayed the darkness of the human soul, but also the power and hope of forgiveness | Roberta Green Ahmanson

Next week at London's National Gallery the last works of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, one of the greatest artists the West ever produced, will go on exhibit. Only a small percentage of WORLD readers will probably be able to see the show in person, but Caravaggio's life and art raise crucial artistic and theological questions.

He was born in 1571, probably a week before a turning point in Christian-Muslim relations: A rare coalition of the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor, the papal states, and the Venetian Republic routed the Ottoman navy in the Bay of Corinth near LePanto.

Born into a middle-class Milan family, Caravaggio wanted to be a painter and at the age of 13 signed an apprenticeship with Simone Peterzano in Milan. Art then was still largely funded by the church, often by wealthy cardinals from noble families. Though Florence and Venice were important, Rome was the center of the art world, and the young man biographers describe as having a "hot nature and high spirits" went there in 1592.