Hello everyone and welcome back to art holes, the Art in Art History Podcast with someone who has absolutely no qualifications to have a podcast on these topics.

I'm glad to have you back. From what I've been told at moments last episode got kind of hard to process.

And I sat down to record this episode very much wanting to say that this one will be slightly less

disconcerting. But I don't really know if that's 100% true, but there's only one way to find out.

We are still climbing towards the summit of absolute outlandishness in this story, so let's just jump right back in.

When we last left Caravaggio he'd begun finding some level of success in Rome

and he really wasn't handling that success very well.

He is entitled and unnecessarily empowered and after he's done creating beautiful

art during the day, at night he was wearing urban camouflage and going out to pick fights,

threaten people with a sword,

and then just outright stab people.

Even for a violent time, people were noticing

that Caravaggio had an extra level to him,

and it was this propensity and really his lust and zeal for violence that made Mario finally

have to break away and get married.

Prospero and Costantino are still around.

You don't just lie to the people police on someone's behalf and then decide there too much to handle.

But Caravaggio is spending more time with friends who helped him really start to lean into the gang life and

Rome and the artist quarter, those dark and narrow streets and alleys right

near the Ortaccio de Rapetta, the evil lady district.

And I really do intend to use the word gang here.

When we say gangs now, I feel like there's almost an immediate

...