Day 5

The first week's work on the kitchen is complete, with the plastering done today. We'll now hope it dries over the weekend.

1606 was an eventful year for Caravaggio. In May, he and his crowd of unruly friends had a run-in with the Tomassoni brothers from Terni, sons of the captain of the guard of the aristocratic Farnese family.  Gian Franco Tomassoni was the ward boss of the area around Campo Marzio and his younger brother, Ranuccio was a swaggering thug, skilled with the dagger and sword. A fight between the gangs broke-out near a tennis court. of the Via del Scofra.  This may have arisen over a disputed bet on a game. Or it may have been a reaction to a disobliging remark by Ranuccio about Caravaggio's girlfriend. Whatever the cause, Ranuccio was fatally wounded in the fight and Caravaggio fled from Rome.

At around that time he painted the dramatic Flagellation of Christ, which can be seen as a piteous scene of the torment of Jesus and/or as a scene of brutal violence, relished by the hoodlums involved.