What explains the current rage for the 17th-century Italian artist known as Caravaggio ? Is it his realistic, almost photorealistic technique of somber darkness contrasted with spotlighted rose-pink cheeks, lush limbs, and the naughty bits of teasing nudes? Is it his scandalous life a whirligig of recurring assault, debauchery, pederasty, and murder in that era fabled for hypocrisy and repression, the Counter-Reformation? Whatever the appeal, new biographies and critical studies, of man and artist have been appearing with increasing frequency, buttressed by recent discoveries in the libraries, studies, and most importantly, criminal court proceedings of Rome, Naples, Sicily, and Malta.

In a relatively brief life, which ended at age 37 or 39 by murder or disease in a place much disputed, Caravaggio certainly got around. He also dominated the Italian painting of his day, bringing ordinary humans to life as actors in the most touching, strange, and violent stories of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Peter Robb, an enthusiast who capably draws upon academic scholarship but brooks no constraints upon his own insights and creative inferences, has produced in M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio a lengthy, colorful, anecdotal, quirky, and totally engaging artist’s biography. His puckish title sets the tone: His subject, perhaps named Michelangelo Merisi, was known by 15 different surnames, most beginning with the letter M, but is remembered as Caravaggio, the name of his hometown. In other words, though Robb hauls in numerous facts, the lives and careers of other painters, prostitutes, and cardinals, conflicts between the Spanish and French parties in the Catholic Church, politics in the papacy, and much, much more, he continually reminds us that very little is actually known about the most admired and notorious painter of his day.

Somehow amidst the turmoil, this inimitable genius created an indelibly original body of work. Robb traces his growth from heady sensuality to profound evocation of the human condition and his courage in defying the decorum mandated by the Church and enforced by the Inquisition. Sixteen pages of illustrations enhance these discussions.

A sprawling, not entirely disciplined work of ardent passion, M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio could be a bit shorter and less repetitious but is a feast of art appreciation, storytelling, and witty speculation for anyone interested in Caravaggio’s shadowy theater of the partly seen and the institutionalized banditry and brutality of 17th-century Europe.

Charles Flowers, who lives in Purdys, New York, is currently writing about Orientalism in American art.

Computer software magnate Bill Gates may be refining the art of monopoly as we enter the next millennium, but it was John D. Rockefeller who perfected the practice more than a century ago. Indeed, much can be learned about the current state of capitalism and competition by studying Rockefeller, who dominated the oil market as America moved into the 20th century. Ron Chernow’s latest book, Titan, provides a primer on the life of Rockefeller, creator of the Standard Oil Company monopoly.

Chernow masterfully examines the complexities of a man who rose out of an impoverished childhood to become the richest American of his time. The author uses detailed, descriptive writing to show how some people saw Rockefeller as the personification of the evils of capitalism, while others viewed him as a patron saint for his philanthropic work.

Chernow is already established as a respected biographer and social historian, having won praise for his earlier works, The House of Morgan and The Warburgs. He decided to profile Rockefeller after discovering a 1,700-page transcript of private interviews with the oil baron for an authorized biography that was never written. But as Chernow delves into the transcript and hundreds of other written records, the portrait of Rockefeller becomes more perplexing. "In truth, John D. Rockefeller, Sr., had left behind a contradictory legacy — an amalgam of godliness and greed, compassion and fiendish cunning," Chernow writes.

Born in 1839, Rockefeller was the son of a medicine peddler and a deeply religious mother. Chernow argues that these contradictory influences became the foundation for his actions. "I believe it is a religious duty to get all the money you can, fairly and honestly; to keep all you can and to give away all you can," Rockefeller once said.

As Chernow reveals, Rockefeller slowly squeezed out competitors by cutting deals with railroads to provide cheaper shipments to customers. By the time his Standard Oil Trust flexed its full muscle in 1882, it controlled 90 percent of the nation’s oil refining and distribution. Rockefeller became a billionaire. Later, when President Theodore Roosevelt led a trust-busting campaign, it resulted in Standard Oil being dissolved in 1911 by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the twilight of his life, Rockefeller donated millions to charity and created such institutions as the Rockefeller Foundation, Rockefeller University, the University of Chicago, and the General Education Board. "The fiercest robber baron had turned out to be the foremost philanthropist," Chernow writes.

Judgment of Rockefeller will be left to the ages. The difficulty of that task is best summarized when Chernow relates a meeting between Henry Ford and a frail Rockefeller shortly before his death at age 97. "Good bye, I’ll see you in heaven," Rockefeller says, to which Ford replies, "You will, if you get in."

John T. Slania is a writer in Chicago.