A bold, fresh biography of the world's first modern painter As presented with "blood and bone and sinew" (Times Literary Supplement) by Peter Robb, Caravaggio's wild and tempestuous life was a provocation to a culture in a state of siege. The of the sixteenth century was marked by the Inquisition and Counter-Reformation, a background of ideological cold war against which, despite all odds and at great cost to their creators, brilliant feats of art...

Often overlooked in the pantheon of Renaissance masters is Artemisia Gentileschi -- Italy's greatest female painter. In 17th century Italy, Artemisia braved the male-dominated sphere of painting to become a groundbreaking artist.

Surveys the life and work of twentieth-century artist Amedeo Modigliani, and includes over eighty color and black-and-white illustrations.