The Passiontide paintings of Caravaggio provided the catalyst for the fifth volume of my large piano cycle series, Steps. The brilliant, but wild, often violent, "free-spirited" painter depicted several scenes of incidents preceding the crucifixion. t is perhaps surprising, though, that he never actually produced a Christ on the cross, given the subject's almost commonplace treatment. (His two works in the genre instead portray the crucifixions of the apostles Peter and Andrew). This is all the more remarkable given Caravaggio's fondness for alluding to his own dark secrets on canvas, a feature that even carries a sense of his own impending metaphorical "crucifixion". As is well known, he was effectively murdered when his enemies finally caught up with him.