Digging into Caravaggio’s Death

For the artist Caravaggio, life could be as dark and violent as his paintings. For a while he was the most famous artist in Rome, but he died penniless and alone, on his way to Rome after years on the run. According to historians, the artist was hoping for a pardon for murder of a rival, an and end to his exile.
 
But what really happened in Caravaggio’s final days? Scientists at the University of Bologna — including Georgio Grupponi, the same anthropologist who reconstructed the face of medieval poet Dante Alighieri — are trying to find out by exhuming the artist’s 400-year-old remains from a Tuscan cemetery.
 
Starting January 24, the remains will be on display at Rome’s Borghese Gallery, one of the city’s premier art museums, which houses masterworks by the artist.
[BBC/Artinfo]