Caravaggio: Rebel. Visionary. Murderer. His art was the launch-pad for the Baroque. High drama and provocative imagery that set the tone for the next 150 years. Why were his works so revolutionary? Why was he feared by most, and beloved by few?

When he arrived in Rome in 1592, the city was filled with bandits loitering in dark passageways that still reeked from the degradation of the Sack of Rome and insults laid on the Church by Martin Luther. As the early years of the 17th century unfolded the city realised that art had the power to save the faith. Caravaggio was to become the church’s enigmatic and violent poster-boy; an innovator whose paintings had the power to stun people into submission through sheer drama and emotive rigour.