"Malta, Siracuse, Messina, Naples, Porto Ercole. 18th July 1610." "Four years on the run, so many labels on the luggage... and hardly a friendly face, always on the move, running under the poisonous blue sea running under the July sun." "Adrift..." "Salt water drips from my fingers leaving a trail of tiny tears on the burning sand." "The fisherman carrying me high on their shoulders." "I can hear you sobbing, Gerusalemme." "Rough hands wore my dying body... ..snatched from the cold blue sea." "They are lowing me back to the village, their breath warm on my blue lips." "and dying in time of the splash of the oars" "If arms steady as these that embraced me in live!" "to think Gerusalemme, our friendship should end in this room... ..this cold white room so far from home!" "The stars are the diamonds of the poor." "The rich man hide the diamonds in walls... ..embarrassed to compare them with the riches of the Lord, that sparkle in the sky." "The gentlemen is conferring a great honor on our family." "Be faithful and honest, like the men of our country." "Bleah !" "Poor dumb Gerusalemme, no use as a shepherd !" "You look to true St John brought from the wilderness !" "I thought you the colors, and how to grind them... ..the blood red cinnabar and dirty grease ground in poppy and linseed." "The art of priming, glazing with soft squirrel brushes" "My companion in my loneliness!" "Now I am counting the sheep on the hill side of our house." "Pasqualone sometimes comes to move me." "his hand parting my hair... ..like the ripples of the bottom of the ocean." "Far below my mother waves a white sheet." "Bed time, Michele." "Michele !"" "Her voice floating like the silver mask beholding the evening air." "My true love Pasqualone, laughs." "Bed time Michele of the shadows" "We turn slowly home." "The stones clattering under our feet..." "..the white sheet is swallowed in the twilight." ""Pasqualone!" The mountains echo." "Then the darkness comes." " How much?" " Fifty." "That's steep" " Have you more at home?" " It will cost you !" "Oggetto d'arte !" "E io sono molto caro !" "In plain English mate, I'm an art object and very, very expensive" "Is that your money worth?" "I built my world as divine mystery.." "..found the God in the wine and took into my heart... ..I painted myself as Bacchus... ..and took on his feet:" "I wild orgiastic dismemberment !" "I raise this fragile glass and drink to you my audience." "Man's character is his feet." "Why did you paint the flesh so green?" "I have been ill all summer, Excellency." " Is true to life." " And art?" " It isn't art." " I see." "A most interesting idea." "What is your name?" " Michelangelo da Caravaggio." " Michelangelo ?" "Michelangelo..." ""No hope, no fear." The motto is rather extreme." "and the knife is illegal." "The price of the painting is my knife" "I see" "Show me the painting." "What have you written on the music ?" ""You know this I love you."" ""Safe... to they like believe..."" ""..that nothing is impossible...for you."" ""Think yourself... immortal..."" ""..and capable...of understanding..."" ""..all arts, all sciences..."" ""..the nature..."" ""..of every living thing."" ""Mounts higher, than the highest pith..."" ""..descend lower..." "...than the lowest depth..."" "Heraclitus predicted from glum..." ""The way up and the way down all one and the same."" "Bruno is repeating an old truth in new language." "That is the task." "Simple you could say... ..but nothing is more difficult then simplicity." "Matter is in life..." "God all these quotes!" "I could build the tower Babel with them, perhaps he talks himself to sleep." ""..." "Infinite living atoms floating like dust in a shaft of sunlight."" "That, of course, is heresy." "The enemies of Bruno said... ..that ideas like that will make the fix-stars of Aristotle fall from the heavens" "..and the world wonder turning round on its self... ..like a dizzy boy." "Time to go..." "You can break pose for a moment now." " how is it coming?" " Is a piece of cake." " You well-fixed." " Can't complain." " How long have you been here ?" "where?" "in Rome ?" " Yeah." "Four years." "What's that Cardinal after?" "Him?" "Fuck all!" "A few cheap thrills What else?" "You must be joking" " What's his taste in music?" " Catholic." "Ranuccio!" "Not get at anywhere with him?" "You've noticed ?" "Noticed." " What's his name ?" " Ranuccio." "He's not been here before. is he ?" "You've not seen." "You want the impossible." " Don't you ?" " Why don't you paint him ?" "You think is that easy ?" " It wouldn't be the first time." " The wine is free." "Yeah." " You really want to pay, don't you ?" " No, Davide." "I don't want to pay." "Is a true love, then." "love at first sight !" " All right, you talk me out of it" " I'm sorry" "Oh, fuck it." "What have you been up to?" " Nothing much." " How's the painting ?" " The painting ?" "Do you want to know?" "My painting is on the rocks." "St Matthew himself couldn't save it." "It's the most successful fucking disaster it should be set by ease allot in the Coliseum!" "What are you doing later ?" "Coming back with you." "You've paid to be still !" "A cold, blue doubt an infinity of uncertainty." "A black tide ripples against arsenic hi-lights" "A dark is invading "Esse in anima"... ..to be a violate soul." "Your Master eats with sinners... ..a healthy don't need a doctor, only the jaundice sick" "And the Gods?" "The Gods have become diseases" "Thought without image lost in the pigment... ..trapped in the formless amber wastes?" "My pristine awkward are over !" " Evviva I'anno nuovo !" " Evviva i prossimi cent'anni !" "Uncertainty and doubt." "long live doubt, through doubt comes insight." "Upon my bed at night I sought him who my soul loves" "I sought him but found him not." "I called him but he gave not answer." "I will rise now and go about the city... ..in the streets and the squares I will seek him who my soul loves." "I sought him but found him not" "Blood brothers." " You are in love with him!" " With his money." " You are in love with him!" " He ain't fucks me, yet !" "Fucking rent boy" " Pay off your fucking gambling debts !" " Piss off, will you?" "Is my business, I pay the bills" " You?" "You pay the bills?" "Princess." "He loves me, he loves me not." "He loves you not." "In the womb the question is answered" "All art is against lived experience" "How can you compare flesh and blood with oil... ..ground pigment?" "The room turns slowly." "I study myself Staring into the blue void." "Dull metallic flies cluster like rotted grapes... ..to the butting iridescence" "Sun keeps time to the beat to the old clock deep in the church." "The clock is as old as time itself." "Pasqualone says:" ""Old father time... ..cut it's wheels from the seed out of the Garden of Eden. "" "The flies scattered as my shadows falls across, the dead rat grimaces." ""Time stop for no man". says Pasqualone." "The rat played out his life on the cogs in the great wooden clock quite carelessly." ""Time stop for no man, not even the sun". says Pasqualone." "My shadows passed the fly spiral back." "Pasqualone yawns into the blue sky." "I do adore strawberries... ..one feel so wicked eating them out of season." "My Dear Frances." "you haven't tried pepper?" "Pepper?" " Expensive but perfect." " What an extravagant idea !" "Sometimes... ..the most incompatible subjects make the best of friends." "I spent the morning at the Vatican." "We are very concerned about the rates of your new loan proposal" " They are extraordinary high." " As indeed the Michele Caravaggio's fee" "But St Mathew looks so very well in the gallery !" "It was a godsend priest St Luigi hate it so much !" "I'm commissioning something quiet different this time round: profane love." "Perfect subject four our genius" "Michele has invited me to my unveiling" " He's invited to you's too." " Both of us?" " You heard him?" "They are expecting the Pope." "Really ?" " Yes, really !" " In fancy dress." " Well, you won't have to change, will you!" " Michele is buying the costume for you." " What more do you want ?" "Much more that you can imagine !" "I've been to one of these parties... ..I was pick up by a talent scout an evil queen called Ambrogia." "then told: "If I'm breath the word that I have seen it... ..my life will be few worth than a strand spaghetti."" "At midnight holy father arrives dressed as an eerie satyr." "Wearing the triple tiara." "Very good evening to you, Your Holiness." "Take your fucking hands off me!" "Lena !" "Donna Elisabeth." "Allow me to introduce the hero of the hour." " Michelangelo Caravaggio." " We are not related, are you ?" "Donna Elisabeth is a great admirer of Michelangelo." "Such a sweet man so clever with his hands !" "Ice cream ?" "is just another party, darling" "Lena ?" "Lena ?" "Scipione, may I introduce you to my charming friend Lena ?" "He's a nephew of our dear Pope." "Mercury invented the arts with an act of theft." "Takes a thief to catch a thief." "Gimme you hand." "Come on !" "For Eternity and the day." "Madonna, Queen of heaven !" "Agony fashion !" "Ugly, isn't it ?" "Nice frame." "Splendid, keep up with the work." "Virgins are expensive !" "You are my St John..." "..and this is our wilderness." ""With the support of his card..."" ""..with the connivance of his Cardinal, the second Michelangelo's..."" ""..stole the commission for the painting of St Mathew."" ""A conspiracy between Church and gutter."" ""Those who love art must be alerted to this poison..."" ""..which seep into the body of our Renaissance like a pernicious drug."" ""Shadows which permeate his paintings and no less insidious..."" ""..than those which cloaked ignorance and depravity."" "A sad reflection... ..of our time." "Pasqualone yawns into the blue sky." ""Time stop for no man", he says, caressing himself" "I watch the ripples in his trousers, can I put my hand in?" "The words fall over themselves with embarrassment." "Pasqualone sights and removes his hand without looking at me." "I kneel beside him and reach timidly into the dark." "There are hole on his pocket my hand slides in." "His cock glows warm in my hand." "Pasqualone says his girl Cecilia, hold it harder." ""Harder Michele" The air hisses through the gap in his golden teeth." ""Touch mine, touch mine", but my mouth is dry and the words refuse to come." "And ice cold bead sweat forms and trickles down my back." "The seeds spat, His body tighten." "It swallows "Harder Michele, harder." The violent word fly around me... ..like the marble splinters in my father workshop, stinging my cheek." ""Do it, do it, now !"" "Do you want to stop for a while ?" "Lena ?" "Bring some water." "What's wrong with my Magdalene ?" "Is my child." "I'm pregnant !" " She's pregnant." " Fucking marvelous ?" "Piss artist !" "It's gonna cost you !" " I hope I wasn't interrupting it." " You're back !" "Not back, just visiting." " Whom child is it ?" " Mine." " What about us ?" "Well, you have Michele... ..I have Scipione and the child." "The child shall be rich... ..beyond avarice." "Your hair screams out, dark as the Medusa weed." "Your fingers are cold." "The cold has invaded." "Your blood run slow." "The life is washed away." "A child's castle drifting in the foam." "My heart misses a beat, I reach out to you, my Magdalene... ..drowned in the water of forgetfulness." "Michele." "No peace for the wicked." "Michele !" "Francis !" ""and God shall wipe away the tears from their eyes"... .."There shall be no more death, neither sorrow or crying"... .."neither shall there be any more pain"." ""For the former things have passed away."" "I am innocent !" "I ain´t kill her !" "I never touched them, never" " She was killed by Scipione Borghese !" " Take your hands off, you lunatic !" "Michele !" "Fuck you !" "I'm innocent." "That bastard murdered her, that fucking bastard!" "Look, look." "Alone again, down into the back of the skull imagining and dreaming." "And beyond the edge of the frame, darkness." "the black night invading" "The soot from the candles darkening the varnish... ..creeping round the empty studio, reading the wounded paintings... ..smudging out in the twilight." "Sharp knife wounds that stab you in the groin, so you gasps... ..and gulp the air tearing your last breath from the stars... ..as the seed runs into the parched sheets and you fall into the night." "I float on the glassy surface of the still dark lake... ..land black in the night, silent as an echo... ..a mote in your eyes." "You blink and send me spinning swallow in the vortex." "I shoot through the violet depths." "Unalterable silence of these waters !" "A tear forms in drops." "The ripples spread out beyond the farthest horizon... ..beyond matter, scintilla, star !" "I love you more than my eyes." "I've trapped your spirit in matter... ..won't you let them value And glow like the lilies of the field..." "..is horribly perverted." "Please tie, the alters of Rome, the mockery" "God catches you, you!" "Years ago.." "when we met... ..I dreamed the paintings I could love." "His Cardinal should buy him a vineyard." "Some more wine, Michele ?" "Lambrusco, Frascati, Lacrima Cristi... ..wine from the Veneto, wine from Sicily... ..but for the discerning... ..stronger than the sun in July, richer than the Vatican... ..We have the establishment's own, vino del Moro." "This fucking artichokes swimming in rancid oil !" " Eminence." "Michele Caravaggio... ..The Holy Father and myself are prepared to turn a blind eye to "Sodom"... ..provided you make it worth it by bringing the riffraff back to Church... ..and placing them in awe of the par of the Holy Father..." "..who is, of course, the soul and debiteur of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ here on earth." "and Michele, I must advise you... ..that these slanders against my personal life must stop." "You'll address "His Holiness" as your "Holiness" and kiss his ring without touching it... ..when he extends his hand." "Michele Caravaggio... ..egregio "in urbe pictor"." "Your Holiness." "I heard you are a bit of a rascal." "One of the family" "Scipione says you paint quick." "The quicker the better." "I have a bloody war on my hands !" "Thought so!" "The bloody Tomassoni affair... ..that prostitute in the Tiber." "I know you've been putting it about that my nephew did her in." "Well, If the portrait looks good you can have him, and good luck to you." "Revolutionary gestured in art can be a great help to us." "bet you hadn't thought about that, you little bugger !" "Keeps the "quo" in the "status"." "Never heard of a revolution made with paintbrushes !" " You are out !" " You pulled it off !" "Fucking brilliant" "We tricked the bastards" "What you mean ?" "Trick them ?" "Michele, are you blind ?" "I did it for you." " For love." " For what ?" " For love." " you murdered her ?" "For you." "For us." "You murdered her." "The first light of dawn falls through the open window of my bedroom." "A swallow flies in, an swoops dark as an arrow along the beam ... ..landing with it's wings spread, black as a crucifix on the wall." ""It is, it is, it is" the swallow whispers." "The golden dust cloud it is, in the rush of air." "I lie eyes open facing the ceiling on the great wooden bed... ..which is the bark that bears me across the ocean of night." "I bed in my head in the pillow and dream on my true love Pasqualone." "I'm rowing to you on the great dark ocean." "You soar dolphin like out of my sight, laughing." "Dolphins are not caught with smiles, but cruelly with hoax "Michele"" ""One day you will learn to be cruel."" ""Michele, wake up, Cecilia stands in the doorway."" "holding her feather duster on it's long bamboo pole" "She leaps catlike at the swallow... ..switching her broom through the dusty stars like a palm tree in the sirocco." "The spell is broken." "Pasqualone stands at the window, smiling." " Pasqualone." " Michele."