Caravaggio: Man & Mystery

In the summer of 2010 the peaceful Italian coastal town of Porto Ercole became the scene of a momentous discovery. It was the end of a long trail, the final chapter in a mystery that had gripped the art world for 400 years.

Beneath the floor of a burial crypt the possible remains of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio were brought to light; one of the greatest artists of all time, one who had turned the art of painting on its head – and then disappeared without a trace.

Aside from being one of the greatest artists in the 16th Century, Caravaggio was also the most neglected, because of his temper and his revolutionary creations. His character, like his art, was confrontational and uncompromising; bold, driven, ingenious, he was both loved and hated.

Though his great skill meant he was in demand from churches across Italy, his realistic work shocked people. His art blended the beautiful and the decadent, the religious and the obscene, the light and the shade, like never before.

This film looks at the life of this tempestuous man and at the mystery of his techniques that made him so unique.