Focusing on our changing view of the artist, the seminar examines the latest archival discoveries and attributions, the implications of a growing body of technical analyses of individual works, and the varied approaches to the artist and his art in the recent scholarly literature. We will also consider Caravaggio in the popular imagination and media. Requirements include: preparation of weekly assigned readings for class discussion, acting as discussion leader at least once, a research project, whose results will be presented in an oral report and a substantial paper at the end of the semester. Although not required, Italian proficiency is useful.