His art was as enthralling as his life. His paintings, always on canvas, were revolutionary. A master of chiaroscuro and realism, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio ushered in a dramatic new style of art in the late 1500s and early 1600s that mesmerized some and appalled others, but which established him as one of the leading Baroque artists of his era. How he found time to create such an impressive œuvre amazes me: Caravaggio spent much of his time brawling, carousing, and bouncing around the Mediterranean, from his hometown of Milan to Rome to Naples to Malta to Sicily and back to Italy, being imprisoned, fleeing from a death sentence and warrants for his arrest for manslaughter and assault, and being expelled from the Knights of Malta after a membership of only half a year. And he did all of that by the time he died under mysterious circumstances at age 38. He left behind an impressive canon that easily established himself as one of my favorite artists—but one who was nearly forgotten for centuries. Read about my top five works by Caravaggio >