This volume considers Caravaggio's revolutionary 'realism''from a range of perspectives, presenting new avenues for research by a plurality of leading scholars. First, it advances our understanding of Caravaggio's relationship with the 'new' science of observation championed by Galileo. Second, it examines afresh the theoretical nature and artistic means of Caravaggio's seemingly direct 'realism.' Third, it extends the horizons of research on Caravaggio's complex intellectual and social milieu between high and low cultures. Includes essays by Genevieve Warwick, Catharine Puglisi, David M. Stone, Elizabeth Cropper, Anthony Colantuono, Todd P. Olson, and Charles Dempsey.