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Art scholar Stefania Macioce points out the modernity of these works. "If you think of the age, 16th century, there is same way to use the light like modern photography," she says. "It’s fantastic."Caravaggio's use of light and shadow mirrored the ups and downs of his turbulent life.It was the time of Galileo and Monteverdi, and the painter's life reads like a play by Shakespeare, another of his contemporaries.Born in Milan in 1571, Caravaggio arrived in Rome at the height of the Inquisition, when the church was all-powerful. But Rome also had a rich low-life of courtesans, gamblers and brawlers. Caravaggio led a double life, dividing his time between the gilded salons of the powerful cardinals who were his art patrons, and the back-alley demimonde of whorehouses and taverns — the inspiration for his paintings.Art historian Maurizio Calvesi says the artist rejected the uplifting Baroque style so dear to the church, and plunged biblical narratives into the gloom and desperation of contemporary reality. "Caravaggio is the opposite of the Baroque, which glorifies wealth, luxury and the triumphant Catholic Church," Calvesi says. "He was deeply revolutionary; he brought the human aspect of God back to earth." For models, Caravaggio used laborers, prostitutes and gypsies. The church was outraged. Painting after painting was rejected: a dead Virgin that looked like a bloated corpse, a jailer yanking Christ's hair, saints with dirty feet.Cardinal Federico Borromeo wrote in indignation, "Contaminated men must not deal with the sacred."The 19th century art critic John Ruskin called him the "ruffian Caravaggio," and described his work as ''horror and ugliness and filthiness of sin.''Rome's Sant'Agostino Church is filled with treasures — a Raphael, a Sansovino and a Bernini — but visitors all flock first to a corner chapel on the left and drop coins in a machine to illuminate the canvas. Madonna of Loreto shows a barefoot Virgin holding the baby Jesus. She stands in a doorway in the evening shadow, one leg saucily crossed over the other. Visitor Cinzia Margotti is enthralled. "The church couldn't possibly like a Madonna like this one," Margotti says. "Just look at her. She's real and beautiful but too free for the 16th century church."Many of Caravaggio's works were filled with grief, suffering and violence — images in contrast with the church's predilection for rosy cherubs and angels in the heavens. Francine Prose, author of Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles, says his paintings reflected the violence of the times. "Beheadings were a daily fact of life in Rome," she says. "So if you look at Judith and Holofernes or the Beheading of John the Baptist, which is in Malta, they are paintings of executions. His crucifixions, the deaths of saints are executions, so he lived in a very violent time."Under papal orders, heretics were burned at the stake. Caravaggio may have even witnessed the execution of the philosopher and theologian Giordano Bruno in Campo dei Fiori in 1600.Caravaggio also led a violent life. He left no letters, so all that is known about him comes through judicial records of his many scuffles with the law. Sentenced to death in 1606 for murdering a man, he fled Rome.The next four years were spent in flight: to Naples, to Malta, to Sicily and back to Naples. In Malta, he got in trouble again. He was arrested but managed to escape by scaling the fortress-prison walls. His works got darker and more dramatic — he believed papal hit men were on his heels. He painted David with the Head of Goliath, portraying a delicate young man holding a severed head that was Caravaggio's own self-portrait, a tormented mask of agony and horror.Suddenly, he got long-hoped-for news: He was pardoned, and he headed back to Rome.As one of his biographers wrote, "Bad luck did not abandon him."On a hot July day in 1610, a semiconscious Caravaggio was found lying on a beach along the Tuscan coast.It remains a mystery whether he had come down with malaria or some other illness, or whether he had been wounded in a duel. Two days later in the local hospital, the greatest artist of his time ended his all-too-brief career. After his death, Caravaggio was forgotten for 300 years. It wasn't until the 20th century that the visionary genius was rediscovered.

The pileup was created in part because studios want to capture some of the excitement surrounding "Avatar," the James Cameron epic released in December. At $2.4 billion in global ticket sales, it is the highest-grossing film ever. In addition to the novelty or richer experience that might drive more people to see a 3-D movie, tickets to 3-D movies also cost a few dollars more. Around the time "Avatar" came out, Warner Bros. decided to convert a remake of "Clash of the Titans" from 2-D to 3-D and push its release back a week, to April 2. That will be the third 3-D movie to hit the market in a short span. DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.'s "How to Train Your Dragon" comes out a week earlier, and The Walt Disney Co.'s "Alice in Wonderland" hits theaters March 5. And "Avatar" might still be playing in some places too. But a limited number of theaters can show these movies in 3-D, because not all theater owners have bought new digital projectors and undertaken other upgrades necessary to show movies in the format. About 3,900 to 4,000 3-D-ready screens are expected to be available in the U.S. and Canada by the end of March. Typically a movie in wide release might be shown on 3,000 to 10,000 screens in North America. In the past, a smaller number of 3-D-capable screens was adequate when one major film at a time was being released in 3-D in addition to 2-D. Each movie had a longer run, and moviegoers who wanted to see it in 3-D could pick a convenient time to go. With three out at once, each will get less exposure because some theaters with only one or two 3-D screens will have to choose which movies to show in 3-D. "One or all three are going to suffer in some way," said Patrick Corcoran, director of media and research for the National Association of Theatre Owners. "It makes it a much harder decision on exhibitors on what to keep or what to drop or what to add and probably should have been avoided."