You are a law-abiding citizen and a lover of art. You happen to be in a bar in Rome one night in 1506, where you witness a drunken, brawling Caravaggio kill an adversary.
The day before, you had visited Caravaggio’s studio. You knew of two of his completed masterpieces, which you admire greatly. And in the studio you saw his sketches and studies for dozens of new works in various stages of completion.
Now the police are approaching the scene of the crime. If Caravaggio is arrested, he will be found guilty and executed — but then his future masterpieces will never come into existence. If you sneak him away through a back door, he will live to paint his masterpieces — but criminal justice will be denied.
What do you do?
Caravaggio needs to face up to killing another human. Otherwise, art is being valued above human life. The individual rights of the victim were violated.
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