Lives of Caravaggio (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781606066225)

Giovanni Baglione (1566-1643) was an Italian painter and art historian. Although many of his works can be found in Roman churches and European collections, he is perhaps best known for his contentious relationship with Caravaggio, which resulted in Baglione suing Caravaggio and other artists in his circle for libel over a claim that Baglione had plagiarized Caravaggio's style. Baglione's book The Lives of Painters, Sculptors, Architects and Engravers active from 1772-1642 (Le Vite de'pittori, sculturi, architette ed intalgliatori...) published in Rome in 1642, includes the biographies of over two hundred artists and is still considered an important historical source for information about artists living in Rome during Baglione's lifetime.

Giovanni Pietro Bellori (1613-1696) was an Italian painter and antiquarian, but was in fact most well known as a biographer of seventeenth-century artists. His book Le Vite de'Pittori, Scultori et Architetti Moderni, published in 1672, was influential in promoting classical idealism in art rather than the Mannerist or Baroque styles on the rise at the time. Bellori revered the classicizing work of Annibale Caracci and his circle over the realism and naturalism of Caravaggio, whom he repudiated.