CARAVAGGIO

Mora’s graphic novel highlights the illicit romances and dramatic adventures of celebrated Baroque painter Michelangelo Caravaggio.

In Milan, 1591, Michelangelo Caravaggio has made a name for himself as both a skilled painter and a dangerous troublemaker. After seeing a dear friend burned at the stake for sodomy by the Inquisition, Caravaggio and his male lover Mario are desperate to flee the city (“Perhaps this is fate, telling me to leave Milan”). Impetuous and angry, Caravaggio begins slicing his way through the town to collect debts, making a dangerous enemy in Cavaliere Fabrizio along the way. After relocating to Rome, Caravaggio creates bewitching art that challenges perceptions of the church, but he also continues to find conflict in the streets. As Caravaggio’s temper draws more and more dangerous enemies, he and Mario must once again flee. They soon find themselves welcomed in Malta by a certain Fabrizio and his patron, Cavaliere di Giustizia. They pretend to love his art, but they are in fact the same men who tried to kill him in Milan years earlier, and they plan to use Caravaggio for their own political gain. With their take on Caravaggio, Mora and illustrator Mescaria subvert fusty ideas about classical painters, creating a queer, swashbuckling adventurer. Images of Caravaggio’s lithe, muscled figure against shadowy, gothic backdrops call to mind a fantasy hero more than a historical figure, while the story and exquisite artwork deliver one action-packed scene after another. The impact of Caravaggio’s art is addressed, especially in the Rome section, which works in some fascinating context about changing styles, but Mora is primarily focused on the doomed lovers and their cat-and-mouse game with various authorities. Some of the political intrigue and shifting motivations are a bit hard to follow, but those concerns are quickly swept aside as this unique and exciting version of Caravaggio repeatedly—and sometimes foolishly—charges into battle for the one he loves.

A clever take on history turns a famed artist into a flawed and fascinating hero fighting for acceptance.