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米开朗基罗 Part 05

He's 30 years old, the Matthews have made him an overnight sensation. The church commissions roll in but it all starts to go to his head.

The other Caravaggio shows up. Violent, abusive, unpredictable. . . . . . .

We'll cut off your balls and we'll fry them in oil! And the more successful he is, the weirder his behaviour gets.

His brother, Giovanni Battista, a priest, comes to see the painter in Del Monte's palace. ''I've got no brother, never had one'', says Caravaggio.

Brother leaves, crushed, bewildered. . . . . . .

He kits himself up in a fancy black outfit, but then he wears it until it's in tatters. Then there's his dog, Crow, he teaches to walk on its hind legs.

. . . . . . If you're another painter and you see this loco coming towards you, watch out.

Caravaggio and his mates particularly get off on abusing rivals and imitators. ''We'll fry your balls in oil'' was one of the choice insults recorded in court.

Whether he meant it or not, all this physical aggression, all this sweaty closeness on the borderline between pathos and trouble, carried over into Caravaggio's art, with shockingly moving results. . . . . . .

Only someone who rubbed shoulders with the poorest people in Rome could produce painting like this. Christ grabs Doubting Thomas's wrist, guiding his finger deep into his wound, burying it in his body until Thomas believes.

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