When in Florence for the biennale where my wife’s sculptures were being shown, we had a day to ourselves. Should we visit the Venice biennale and its supposedly cutting-edge modern art, or Rome, for the paintings of Caravaggio? Do we go to the future or to the past?
It wasn’t a difficult choice. It had to be Caravaggio, whose powerful works both drew you in and left you uneasy. The 16thcentury Italian was a notorious brawler, murderer and thug and his life asked the question: the man or his work? Can we, should we, separate the two? The prolific artist who was in constant exile (usually running from the law) was dead by 38; only about 80 of his works survive.
In a brilliant essay in his new collection,Black Paper, Teju Colewrites of visiting the cities Caravaggio had been in exile, to see his works there.
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