Take note that men like Benvenuto, who are unique in their profession, do not have to be subject to the law. Pope Paul III on Benvenuto Cellini. Veit Stoss forged documents to get his money. Carlo Gesualdo, the composer of devout motets, murdered his wife and her lover. Karl May spent over eight years in prison for usurpation, fraud, and theft. And the cartoonist Arno Funke, alias Dagobert, designed elaborate devices for handing over extorted money. "Bad Apples" presents a wealth of surprising legal violations committed by painters, composers, authors, and musicians in just over twenty chapters. In all cases, the long-held notion since the Renaissance that the leap from genius to criminal is small proves to be an enticing, unfounded, but narratively highly productive cliché that continues to shape our image of the artist's existence to this day.