This is such an easy way out, though. Certainly homosexuality — as an acknowledged sexual orientation— didn’t exist in the public imagination until the late 19th century. But that doesn’t mean that men who were primarily or exclusively attracted to other men did not exist. No serious historian could ever suggest that, or if they did they could be easily disproved.

History is full of men and women who were obviously primarily attracted to people of the same gender. Nobody can know what was going on inside Caravaggio’s head, but the fact he was attracted to young men is hardly contestable.

He seems to have run with a rough crowd, by the way, which you can see in his Card Sharps paintings, which feature young bravi whom he portrays as very sexualized. They’re some of the few paintings he did that he set in contemporary times rather than in a religious framework. Besides really beautiful narrative and luscious detail, they offer us a peek into how he lived.