World Book Day

I am an avid reader of fiction and confess to being unable to resist the appeal of a book when I am shopping. Last year, I celebrated "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" on World Book Day.

This year, I have chosen an unusual purchase (for me). I do not usually succumb to a "coffee table book" but on a recent visit to the National Gallery in London I couldn't resist this book of my artistic passion, Caravaggio.

The cover is a detail of the painting, "The Conversion of the Magdalene" or "Saints Martha and Mary Magdalene" c 1598 and in The Detroit Institute of Arts.

If I am ever in Rome, I have to visit the Caravaggios (in the church in the Piazza del Popolo and in San Luigi dei Francesi) and I cannot go to Valetta without going to see the masterpiece in the co-cathedral.

Caravaggio was the ultimate "bad boy" and I can imagine that the man must have had just as much charm and appeal as his magnificent paintings.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (29 September 1571 ? 18 July 1610) was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610.

more information about Caravaggio