In the first half of a two-part work, Milo Manara offers up a fictionalized account of the life of the painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, often known as just Caravaggio.
This young man makes his way to Rome in 1592 and does the bad boy thing. When he isn't partying, he paints brilliantly, using sex workers as his models while fighting with their pimps and fending off accusations of heresy when he includes them in paintings of Biblical events. His passion is his painting, but his rowdy ways constantly get him into trouble, forcing him to finally flee the city in 1606.
Manara is renown for including lots of nudity and sex in his books, and this one is no exception. The pages are beautiful, though the colors are a little dark and muted.
The Fantagraphics edition that I read includes a gallery of Caravaggio's paintings, and they are quite dazzling and distinctive, with bright, photorealistic figures in the foreground contrasted with backgrounds of dark shadows or pure blackness.
FOR REFERENCE:
The Fantagraphics Milo Manara Signature Edition Library, Vol. 1 - January 2025, 76 pages
Contents: Caravaggio: The Palette and the Sword, Book 1 / Milo Manara, story, art and colors; Brandon Kander and Diana Schutz, translators, J. Michael Catron, letterer -- Story Notes -- Bibliography -- Manara and the Maestro [essay] / Claudio Strinati, writer -- A Gallery of Caravaggio Paintings (1592-1606)
The Dark Horse Books edition - April 2017, 64 pages
Contents: Foreword / Claudio Strinati, writer -- Caravaggio, Vol. 1: The Palette and the Sword / Milo Manara, story, art and colors; Simona Manara, colors; Brandon Kander and Diana Schutz, translators; Aaron Walker, letterer -- Story Notes -- Bibliography