Book Description
For the first time nearly every extant work by Caravaggio is reproduced in color in this lavish new volume, the long-awaited result of more than 20 years of research by a leading authority on the artist.

In an engaging and informed text, John T. Spike explores in detail Caravaggio's scandalous life and provocative work. Placing Caravaggio within the broad panorama of society and ideas at the turn of the 17th century, the author sets a richly detailed stage for an artist who has been called "the first modern painter." Caravaggio (1571-1610) reflected in his canvases his own desires and spiritual crises to an extent no one ever had imagined possible, and he shocked his contemporaries by portraying the saints and virgins of Christianity with the faces and bodies of his companions and lovers in Rome's demimonde.

Accompanying the book is a critical catalog on CD-ROM in which all of Caravaggio's extant paintings, as well as lost and rejected works, are thoroughly described. Each entry specifies the work's medium, dimensions, location, and provenance, and provides an annotated bibliography of sources. Most of the entries conclude with a brief technical analysis. Much of this scientific data, of prime importance for attribution and dating, has not previously been published.

With its fresh insights, as well as judicious readings of the documents and the physical evidence of the paintings themselves, Caravaggio is the most thorough study on the artist to date, and it will no doubt remain a definitive monograph for many years to come.

Other Details:
160 color, 190 b/w illustrations. 11 x 13" trim size. Published in 2001. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A great study of the artist Caravaggio

the quality of the research and the color of the paintings are outstanding.
Also the CD-ROM has an unbelievable amount of information on the artist's
works and their provenance.
Dr.John T. Spike's 20 years of research is shared with the reader and is so readable and engaging.

Artist
The reproductions are excellent. The binding is fine and the cover handsome.The writing is solid academically.I would have liked the book to have had more information on the artist and his life.Much is left to be done in the study of Caravaggio.His life still seems to be quite mysterious.His probable use of optics and mirrors in his work is touched on and needs further exploration.This book provides a good introduction to Caravaggio and his paintings in a handsome package.

Great book on the greatest of all Italian painters
Great book on the greatest of all Italian painters. Glorious plates.And the text is a pretty good bio.

Highly recommended
My husband and I just came back from Italy and we had to have a Caravaggio book. His painting in Vatican museum was especially memorable!I picked this book and it is very good. I agree with the earlier comments that some (not "many") pictures are poor quality (too red), but many photographs are very good, nice size for an art book and very important - it is an interesting and detailed research.

This is the one.
My library contains many various volumes on the subject of Caravaggio--fiction, biography, fictionalized biography and photo surverys of his works--but if I were allowed only one book on this most extradordinary painter and his life I'd take "Caravaggio" by John T. Spike. In this weighty large-format picture-book Mr. Spike has given us the most complete look at the artist and his works currently available, presented in graceful depth so as to engage any interested reader and art enthusiast regardless of the nature of his commitment. It's unusual to find such an authoritative colaboration of art historical expertise and first quality illustration as we have here, a book to read, study and savor. ... Read more

Amazon.com
As Catherine Puglisi points out in the most beautiful Caravaggio book ever, the soulful, tormented, ethereally talented painter has become a pop icon, with a "full-blown industry of Caravaggio publications." Puglisi's book is a standout in this crowded field. With remarkable evenhandedness, she sifted through the scholarship and discoveries--and the trash--of the past 20 years and wrote a Caravaggio book that does justice to the painter's glorious work. She doesn't skimp on the juicy parts of his life, however: she candidly but coolly recounts and appraises the bits of historical evidence for his sexuality (both hetero and homo), his use of whores and ruffians as models, and his many scrapes with the law. All the while, she focuses the reader on the paintings, aptly describing such naturalistic, groundbreaking works as The Calling of St. Matthew, of 1599.

Gazing at the large, double-page color plates in Puglisi's book, it is easy to feel the erotic pull of the many early canvasses of supple youths that have been so widely reproduced in recent years. But the later religious pictures, in which the models for the saints and Madonnas still seem almost palpable in their reality, have the most dramatic magnetism. Rest on the Flight into Egypt is particularly moving. It may never be possible to unravel the tangled web of Caravaggio's life, but Puglisi manages to restore a welcome balance to our view of his art. --Peggy Moorman Book Description
As Catherine Puglisi points out in the most beautiful Caravaggio book ever, the soulful, tormented, ethereally talented painter has become a pop icon, with a "full-blown industry of Caravaggio publications." Puglisi's book is a standout in this crowded field. With remarkable evenhandedness, she sifted through the scholarship and discoveries--and the trash--of the past 20 years and wrote a Caravaggio book that does justice to the painter's glorious work. She doesn't skimp on the juicy parts of his life, however: she candidly but coolly recounts and appraises the bits of historical evidence for his sexuality (both hetero and homo), his use of whores and ruffians as models, and his many scrapes with the law. All the while, she focuses the reader on the paintings, aptly describing such naturalistic, groundbreaking works as The Calling of St. Matthew, of 1599. Gazing at the large, double-page color plates in Puglisi's book, it is easy to feel the erotic pull of the many early canvasses of supple youths that have been so widely reproduced in recent years. But the later religious pictures, in which the models for the saints and Madonnas still seem almost palpable in their reality, have the most dramatic magnetism. Rest on the Flight into Egypt is particularly moving. It may never be possible to unravel the tangled web of Caravaggio's life, but Puglisi manages to restore a welcome balance to our view of his art. --Peggy Moorman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Don't cut paintings with a binding!
I just purchased this book based on previous reviews.One disappointment I have with it is the cropped paintings or paintings with the seem slicing through them.It's frustrating as a student of the arts to try and copy the tiny details out of the bindings.Aside from that, I am glad I bought it.The works inside are fantastic.

Caravagio
This is an excellent book.The pictures are amazing! and the explanation is precise.I give it 5 stars!

A Book ofWonderful Pictures
I did so look forward to receiving this book greedily unwrapping it as soon as it arrived.I'm a huge fan of Caravaggio and having seen many of his paintings in situ I was eager for any new information.Unfortunately I'm one of the people who can't read the small silver text on glossy white paper.When I say "can't read" I mean that within about two minutes all of the little silver words on the page just dissolve into whiteness.I agree it looks pretty but perhaps that combination of ink and paper might best be reserved for an invitation to a Winter Solstice dinner and not used in an obviously superb book such as this one.Catherine Puglisi was done a terrible dis-service in the design of this book.Thequality of the photographs of the paintings (and the quantity) are fantastic and I have enjoyed them immensely.Maybe the paper version is black on white but I sure don't like to have buy the same book twice.I'm giving two stars to what is probably a five star book.

A Thorough Investigation of the Genius of Caravaggio
Dr. Catherine Puglisi is not only a fine scholar, well informed about her subject, she is also a fine writer. CARAVAGGIO is a richly produced heavy volume (hardcover reviewed) that spreads the text throughout the course of the book as each of the points about the artist's life and technique and gifts to art history is explored.

The color plates are reproduced with clarity and two-page extensions of the larger horizontal works aid the reader in gaining perspective.Multiple images of details offer close examination of Caravaggio's technique, a manner that continues to influence representational artists today.

Puglisi gratefully does not shy away from the controversial aspects of Caravaggio's life and sexuality.She deals with the facts and presents them in context with his concurrent paintings. The volume includes an exceptionally fine body of appendices that offers a complete checklist of the paintings including small reproductions of some, a terse bibliography, and a series of extracts from the myriad sources from which Puglisi extracted information.

The one criticism of this book, and it is a significant one, is the small type font in the pale gray ink selected by a designer who seems more concerned with 'making a pretty book' than in respecting the written word!But in the end this is a definitive volume about one of art history's more interesting and gifted painters.Grady Harp, December 05

Amazing Book about a PHENOMENALartist!!
Anything showing photos of this fellow's incredible oevre would probably deserve the highest praise even without editorial guidance. But just browsing thru this one will stun anyone not familiar with Caravaggio, which is probably 98% of the populace.Ms. Puglisi interweaves the artist's life and times around the glorious color photos. The print may be a tad small,but the fact that there's around two spaces between each line of text makes it, IMHO, even easier to read than otherwise. The raw,harrowing originality of this artist are beyond description, and his life is a near match. He died violently before the age of 40...Especially recommended for those (mainly males) who may think that Art and Art History are less than manly pursuits!! (Yes there are plenty of guys out there who think like this.) Give this book, the author,publisher, and the artist way more than five stars!! ... Read more

Book Description
As presented here with "blood, and bone and sinew" (Times Literary Supplement), the story of Caravaggio is the story of a wild and tempestuous life that was a provocation to a culture in a state of siege.The end of the sixteenth century was marked by the Inquisition and Counter-Reformation, a background of ideological war against which, despite all odds, brilliant feats of art and science were achieved.No artist captured the dark, violent spirit of the time better than Caravaggio, variously known as Marisi, Moriggia, Merigi, and sometimes, simply M.As art critic Robert Hughes has said, "There was art before him and art after him, and they were not the same."AUTHORBIO: PETER ROBB was born in Australia and has lived in Naples and Southern Italy for most of the past two decades.His first book, Midnight in Sicily, was a New York Times Notable Book and a New York Public Library Book of the Year.REVIEW: "It is clear that Caravaggio is Robb's oyster, and he makes him ours too." (The Boston Globe)REVIEW: "Partisan, sharply personal, and well worth reading." (The Wall Street Journal)REVIEW: "His biography....comes across almost like an eyewitness account.His commentaries on the paintings convey a kind of informed passion in confrontation with genius....his account achieves both intimacy and vibrancy because of the richness of layering, its nonstop accumulation of analyzed detail." (Richard Bernstein, New York Times)REVIEW: "Robb's ambitions are lofty and, plainly put, it is hard not to be seduced by his prose." (The Washington Post)REVIEW: "Passionate, perceptive....[Robb] succeeds brilliantly in bringing to life one of the handful of figures in art history whose genius blazed so brightly that it illuminated an entire age and changed forever the course of European art." (The Baltimore Sun)REVIEW: "That rarest of hybrids, a cerebral thrill ride, and its indulgences are more than balanced by the brilliance of insight." (The Village Voice)REVIEW: "A feast of art appreciation, storytelling, and witty speculation." (Bookpage)REVIEW: "Just as Caravaggio took art to the edge, Robb takes biography there." (Publishers Weekly) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (40)

M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio is nothing short of brilliant.A complete and exhaustive study of one of the greatest painters to have ever lived.If art or history interest you Peter Robb's book will be a treasured read.From the papal and intolerant church's influence on art - religious propaganda - to how people really lived this books paints a realist picture of Caravaggio's times.Peter Robb documents Caravaggio's patronage struggles, brothels and prostitutes as artist's models of Virgin Marys and church outrage, to deadly sword fights and Caravaggio's flight from prosecution, a vivid picture is presented, drawn from art reviews of the times (1595-1610) estate disbursement records, police and court records Robb documents Caravaggio's life and times in vivid detail.

Caravaggio was the original Bad Boy of the art scene and Peter Robb's 20 year investigation and study of the works is superb.A second book, "Caravaggio, The Complete Works," Barnes & Noble, is a most helpful companion book to view all the paintings written about in Robb's book.Together they make a complete study of perhaps the most brilliant painter to have ever lived.

'M is the name of an enigma.'
As written by Peter Robb, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (born 1571, died 1610) is indeed an enigma.The man who became the painter is complex, moody, vulnerable and opportunistic.

Caravaggio (or M as Mr Robb styles him) was an extraordinarily gifted artist.Readers should be aware that there are a number of different interpretations of aspects of Caravaggio's life and the account written by Mr Robb is by no means uncontested.

This book is primarily about the man and while it describes his art (and includes photographs and a list of paintings) it is about the art in the life of the man rather than the art itself.Readers who want to know more about the world in which Caravaggio painted, and especially those who need more information of some of the religious context and significance would be advised to consult other sources.

While I enjoyed this book I have two criticisms: more judicious editing would have resulted in a neater, more elegant presentation; and the balance between known fact and possible interpretation is not always clear.However, as an interpretation of a complex life it breathes life into the man.In my case, it made me interested enough to explore more about the man and his paintings.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Rome Alive
Robb's reconstruction of fin de siecle seventeenth century Rome while it may fail the requirements of a professional historian, goes a huge way for Caravaggio enthusiasts in enlivening the intrigues surrounding his life. Rome's stridency to claim itself the Catholic epicentre resulted in the built environment we encounter today. Power, money, ambition and greed constellate amomngst the wealthy class of cardinals, merchants and princes, each bidding for stellar artists to embellish their architectural monuments. It was an intensley competetive environment.It remaineed the era of commissioned artwork and artists, whatever their imaginative flair and technical skills, would necessarily compromise these to satisfy patrons. artists weren't regarded as much more than competent artisans. the rash of building and accumlated capital in Rome magnetised aspirant artists including 'M' from northern Italy, in the town of Caravaggio, near Milan. Artists took their chances. Then as now, if you were down the pecking order, or a commission crashed, an artist could easily be cast to the considerable outer limits of Rome. It's here in the demionde, that Robb excells with an acidity equal to his descriptions of the Church 'heavies'.'M's' temprament was precariously balanced between the two camps. Having prepared and processed the Mafia trials of the mid 90s that produced his enthralling,'Midnight in Sicily', Robb is a dab and trustworthywriter of the power plays and falls of 'M's' susceptibilities.Morever, Robb is an especially responsive writer on the most compelling evidence of M's story, his painted production. All artists wish to be appreciated, to be dignified, to be understood with the kind of reading Robb brings to the task. this is not academic textbook stuff. My main carp with the production has been the clustered plates placed far from the relevant text, which forced me to keep a catalogue de raisonne beside it. Robb's publishers opted for black and white closeups of the key faces that are the faces of Ms art and swam in his stream of throbbing intensity. Robb's writing seethes with forceful life and passion, and the dark and violent edge that characterises M's canvases and makes them still relevant. To encounter his work in the candle-lit chapels of Rome, or a dim gallery in Syracuse or Messina, one is clouted by its supreme journalistic immediacy and vituosity. Only John Berger, has written such a personal testament on this great painter.

a very impressive book
Even though the historical part of the book seems to be disputable, the part devoted to M.'s paintings is extremely well written. The broad public needs more books like this one. The book was written with skill and true passion.

Is the world flat ?
It might have appeared so in Carravagio's day but like Robb, he was not intimidated by so called dusty 'scholars' and 'fusspots'. Carravagio's 'style' and his rejection of the establishment are what make his work so interesting today. There is no doubt Carravagio's work was wildly controversial in his time. Robb dissects the evidence, such as it is, and invites conclusions in a direct manner from the reader. The fact that Robb's book has drawn a response from `noted historians', 'grammar nerds' and other sundry 'desk polishers' is a credit to the work. Carravagio, if he were around today might give a wry twinkle of a smile to one of his subjects.

Robb includes well-selected and compelling illustrations in the book to aid his view. He does not mess around. Robb goes straight for the aorta of the reader. Carravaggio wasn't popular with his recklessness and Robb has a get there quick style that leaves the scholars and critics in his dust.

Hitler said, " A man with no sense of history is a man with no ears". Robb has a sense of history in spades. So called 'historians' and flat-earthers will no doubt continue to criticise, like the Vatican in Carravaggio's day.Gallileo had imagination, so does Robb.The earth was not flat.Gallileo was right. The Vatican and its legions of scholars, scribes and `dust collectors' were wrong.Read the book. Ignore the pseudo intellectuals. *****

A Masterpiece.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Crappy
This is by far the crappiest books on painting book ever.The pictures are black and white and look like a photocopy of a bad photocopy.Needless to say, I returned it the next day.Buyer Beware.

Excellent Book That Lacks Color Plates
I would agree with the other reviewers that in many respects this is an excellent book. Mr. Hibbard analyzes Caravaggio's works in terms that are comprehensive, and yet not puffed up with academic hot air. He describes the historical context of the paintings, and often compares individual works of Caravaggio with similar paintings of other artists. He even points out artistic errors, such as the lack of perspective in the hands of a man in the painting Supper At Emmaus.Hibbard talks about the striking use of color in Caravaggio's compositions, and it is here that one can be somewhat disappointed with the book for, the wonderful paintings of Caravaggio are, with very few exceptions, reproduced in a dismal black and white. If you are familiar with Caravaggio, and are most interested in the author's commentary, than this deficiency would probably not bother you. I have John Spike's "Caravaggio" that is full of color plates, but it is more expensive. Although I have not seen it, I understand C. Puglisi's book by the same name also has many color plates. For the relative newcomer to this great painter, I would encourage consideration of one of these other two books as a companion volume to this excellent book.

Transcends the usual assigned texts
In one of my last classes for my degree, this book was the required text. I am awed by Caravaggio's work anyway, but combine that with Howard Hibbert's insightful text and you have an amazing book. I would definitely recommend this text for anyone interested in this fantastic artist.

A Great Book for a Great Artist
Caravaggio is one of the greatest artists of the 17th century.In a very brief period of time he managed to exert a influence over all of European painting.

Caravaggio was the original bad boy of the art world. He was willing to use well known prostitutes as models when portraying the Virgin Mary or to show saints with dirty feet.This offended authorities in Baroque Rome and Caravaggio was often a trial to his patrons. During the majority of his active career he was on the lam fleeing from a murder charge. He burst on the Roman art scene during the height of its influence and spent his last days in Malta in the company of the knights.

Although Caravaggio's influence was immense immediately after his death where his masterful use of light and shadow was immitated by countless lesser artists.For a number of years Caravaggio's reputation declined. Raphael's influence dominated academic art and Caravaggio's relatively harsh realism was in disfavor.It was only in the 1950's when a major evaluation occurred.

This book by Howard Hibbard is probably the first of these modern reevaluations of Caravaggio and it is still one of the best. Professor Hibbard is one of the country's leading art historians and he brings considerable scholarship to his study of Caravaggio's work. Although there are plenty of other books on Caravaggio, I think that this book is still the best of lot in terms of understanding Caravaggio's art (his life was sufficiently messy and his sexuality ambiguous to spur the mills of contemporary scholarship for many years). Professor Hibbard's writing is sufficiently free from academic claptrap to make it an invaluable guide to both the specialist and the novice.

A Book Of The Arts!
This is a beautiful book. As a divorced hardworking mother of 3, I spend all of my time reading this book to my children, Isaul (age 90) Gabriella (age 16) and Kraquel (age 3) I also read it to my co-workers where I work,a prositute. This is truley a work of art. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Seventeenth-century painter Nicolas Poussin once said that Caravaggio came into the world to destroy painting. Helen Langdon's marvelous biography suggests that rather than destroying painting, the Milanese artist gave it a new lease on life. Upon his arrival in Rome, Caravaggio ended a tradition of Italian Renaissance painting with his radically new naturalistic style, which continues to dazzle and influence viewers today. Beautifully poised between biographical scholarship and artistic appreciation, Langdon's book provides the reader with a complex, fascinating portrait of Caravaggio, still the rebel and outsider of the popular imagination, but also immersed in the Roman world of art, politics, and patronage. Some of the finest sections of the book vividly evoke the streets and brothels of early 17th-century Rome, which provided Caravaggio with the inspiration for many of his early works. By contrast, the later sections--which deal with Caravaggio's exile and commissions in Naples, Malta, and Sicily--seem rather brief and truncated, giving the final third of the book a rather unbalanced feel. This is, however, partly due to the elusiveness of Caravaggio himself--with little direct contemporary documentation on the painter, he often slips into the shadows, evading the scrutiny of even the most persistent biographer.

Langdon's achievement here is to produce a compelling portrait of the artist that throws new light on his paintings. Here is a painter who was proud, difficult, and arrogant, yet highly intellectual in his appreciation of the changing face of both Catholicism and scientific enquiry. Written with great historical clarity, and supplemented by 42 magnificent color illustrations, Helen Langdon's Caravaggio is a worthy contribution to scholarly study of this artist.--Jerry Brotton Book Description
A powerful and illuminating biography-the first in English in two generations-of one of the most popular painters of all time.

Of all the great Italian painters, the seventeenth-century master Caravaggio speaks most clearly and powerfully to our time. His early paintings of cardsharps, musicians, and street vendors convey his fascination with the Roman demimonde; his stark and brilliant religious paintings convey the world of the poor and the outcast and the religious experience of the individual with a directness our age can recognize.

Caravaggio lived hard and died young, having fled Rome for Sicily, apparently after murdering another man in a dispute; his life is one of the most colorful of any artist's. In this vivid and beautifully written biography, Helen Langdon tells the story of the great painter's life and times in a way that leaves the reader with a renewed appreciation of his art.

Caravaggio painted a fairly small number of works, many of them for settings in Rome, Naples, and Sicily, where they remain today; and he painted directly from human models. So the story of his life and times reveals Italian society of the period-involving powerful patrons, sybaritic cardinals, and saints, as well as street boys, prostitutes, and rivalrous painters.

Langdon has spent a lifetime studying Caravaggio; this biography, the first in English in two generations, shows us Caravaggio's genius with the striking clarity of his own paintings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

One of the Best
This is one of the best Caravaggio books ever written.It is a shame it is no longer in print.The combination of Roman history, church history and art history along with the extensive use of art plates, provide the backdropfor a thorough look into the life of one of the greatest artists of all times.

Helen Langdon gave me the opportunity to understand not only who Caravaggio was, but how he progressed in his development as an artist. This is a thoughtful and thorough presentation. There are many excellent books available on various aspects of Caravaggio's life and paintings; this is the most complete.It is worth the effort to try to locate a used copy of the book.

As clear a portrait as we can hope for, currently...
Langdon's research payed off in this beautiful look at one of the Late Renaissance's most powerful (and mysterious, and notorious) painters.Sadly, most of what we know of Michelangelo Caravaggio's life is through second-hand sources -- police records and such -- but Langdon seems to have pored through every bit of esoterica related to the painter's relation to his time, his culture, and his peers.What we get for her troubles is a portrait of a man whose devotion to religion was so strong that he would do anything -- including lying about his lineage -- to maintain a secure place as a "defender of the faith."

Sadly, the one-star review on this page has a point:many of Langdon's statements are qualified with "perhaps", "almost certainly," etc.This, however, is one of the prices we pay for any attempt to pin down an elusive person who lived on the fringes of a society which passed four hundred years ago.I much preferred this reading to, for example, Desmond Seward's CARAVAGGIO of the same year, in which the author ranted against any recent interpretations of homoeroticism in Caravaggio's sensual paintings, and even against the concept of Caravaggio -- a notoriously violent and tumultuous figure in the history of painting -- having actually earned his lifetime reputation as a criminal!

Beautifully illustrated, well documented, and written with both a sensitivity towards the subject and a refusal to let that sensitivity obscure "the dirt". ..this is a significant addition to the study of one of painting's more fascinating figures.I highly recommend it.

Hedging as a Writing Stype
Ms.Langdon has impressive credentials but the book is exasperating for anyone who is interested in Caravaggio the man.There is hardly a comment she makes that isn't qualified.The text drips with phrases like quite possible, perhaps, it may be that, could it be that, etc.When so littlecan be known for certain about a figure in history, why not just write anovel--historical fiction is a more honest genre and less frustrating forthe reader.

Light inside the Shadows
I found this book to be very entertaining as well as educational. The author did a great job of recreating the setting of Carravaggio's life; the important characters and atmosphere of all the places the artist lived inhis nomadic life. Also, I look at Carravaggio's paintings in a newlight and am even more impressed and moved by them than previously. Carravaggio's was a tragic life. The author captures the sense of impendingdoom that hanged over the artist's head like an executioner's sword.Theauthor did a great job of bringing the artist to life with what little isactually known about him, through records, accounts, and most of all hispaintings. Through it all there is the sense of an awesome talent andfragile ego, that both humbles and angers all who knew him. I came awayrealzing that Carravaggio was a man of his times as well as an artist ofall time. ... Read more

Book Description
Notorious bad boy of Italian Baroque painting, Caravaggio (1571-1610) is finally getting the recognition he deserves. Though his name may be familiar to all of us, his work has been habitually detested and forced into obscurity. Not only was his theatrical realism unfashionable in his time, but his sacrilegious subject matter and use of lower class models were violently scorned. Michelangelo Mirisi de Caravaggio lived a life riddled with crime and scandal, producing a body of work that wouldn't be appreciated until centuries after his mysterious death. Though his body was never found, he is assumed to have been murdered by ruffians on a beach south of Rome-a fate strangely similar to that of controversial Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini who was, like Caravaggio, a homosexual.

Caravaggio's reputation was decidedly poor during his lifetime; sometimes rich, sometimes penniless, when he wasn't in prison he was running away from the police or his enemies. Perhaps no other painter has suffered such injustice: his works were often attributed to more respected painters while he was given the credit for just about anything vulgar painted in the chiaroscuro style. Caravaggio's great work had the misfortune of enduring centuries of disrepute. It wasn't until the end of the 19th century that he was rediscovered and, quite posthumously, deemed a great master. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

CARAVAGGIO
Notorious bad boy of Italian Baroque painting, Caravaggio (1571-1610) is finally getting the recognition he deserves. Though his name may be familiar to all of us, his work has been habitually detested and forced into obscurity. Not only was his theatrical realism unfashionable in his time, but his sacrilegious subject matter and use of lower class models were violently scorned. Caravaggio's great work had the misfortune of enduring centuries of disrepute. It wasn't until the end of the 19th century that he was rediscovered and, quite posthumously, deemed a great master. He is now considered the most important painter of the early Baroque period; without him there would have been no Ribera, Zurburán, Velázquez, Vermeer or Georges de la Tour. Franz Hals, Rembrandt, Delacroix, and Manet would have been different. In this new book you'll find over 50 of Caravaggio's best paintings; we think you'll agree that he was a genius beyond his time. ... Read more

Amazon.com
In 1992 a young art student uncovered a clue in an obscure Italian archive that led to the discovery of Caravaggio's original The Taking of the Christ, a painting that had been presumed lost for over 200 years. How this clue--a single entry in an old listing of family possessions--led to a residence in Ireland and the subsequent restoration of this Italian Baroque masterpiece is the subject of this brisk and enthralling detective story. The Lost Painting reads more like a historical novel than art history, as Harr smoothly weaves several narratives together to bring the story alive. Though he does not provide an in-depth examination of the painting itself--the book is not aimed specifically at art experts--Harr does include many details for lay readers about restoration, the various methods used to track artwork through history, how originals are distinguished from copies, and an inside view of the art world, past and present. He also discusses various forensic approaches, including X ray, infrared reflectography, chemical analysis of the paints and canvas, and other modern techniques. But most of the book is focused on more primitive methods, including dogged research through dusty archives and meticulous attention to detail.

This entertaining book boasts an engaging cast of characters, all of whom are inflicted with the "Caravaggio disease," including some of the foremost Caravaggio scholars in the world, persistent students, obsessive restorers, and most of all, the artist himself. Mercurial, supremely gifted, and prone to violence, Caravaggio lived like an outlaw and a pauper most of his troubled life. Yet even when he attained wealth and fame--and briefly, respectability--he was still hounded by the law (for murder) and numerous vengeful enemies. Harr does an admirable job of bringing the man alive in these pages while keeping his long-lost painting at the center of the action.--Shawn CarkonenBook Description
An Italian village on a hilltop near the Adriatic coast, a decaying palazzo facing the sea, and in the basement, cobwebbed and dusty, lit by a single bulb, an archive unknown to scholars. Here, a young graduate student from Rome, Francesca Cappelletti, makes a discovery that inspires a search for a work of art of incalculable value, a painting lost for almost two centuries.

The artist was Caravaggio, a master of the Italian Baroque. He was a genius, a revolutionary painter, and a man beset by personal demons. Four hundred years ago, he drank and brawled in the taverns and streets of Rome, moving from one rooming house to another, constantly in and out of jail, all the while painting works of transcendent emotional and visual power. He rose from obscurity to fame and wealth, but success didn’t alter his violent temperament. His rage finally led him to commit murder, forcing him to flee Rome a hunted man. He died young, alone, and under strange circumstances.

Caravaggio scholars estimate that between sixty and eighty of his works are in existence today. Many others–no one knows the precise number–have been lost to time. Somewhere, surely, a masterpiece lies forgotten in a storeroom, or in a small parish church, or hanging above a fireplace, mistaken for a mere copy.

Prizewinning author Jonathan Harr embarks on an spellbinding journey to discover the long-lost painting known as The Taking of Christ–its mysterious fate and the circumstances of its disappearance have captivated Caravaggio devotees for years. After Francesca Cappelletti stumbles across a clue in that dusty archive, she tracks the painting across a continent and hundreds of years of history. But it is not until she meets Sergio Benedetti, an art restorer working in Ireland, that she finally manages to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle.

Told with consummate skill by the writer of the bestselling, award-winning A Civil Action, The Lost Painting is a remarkable synthesis of history and detective story. The fascinating details of Caravaggio’s strange, turbulent career and the astonishing beauty of his work come to life in these pages. Harr’s account is not unlike a Caravaggio painting: vivid, deftly wrought, and enthralling.
". . . Jonathan Harr has gone to the trouble of writing what will probably be a bestseller . . . rich and wonderful. . .in truth, the book reads better than a thriller because, unlike a lot of best-selling nonfiction authors who write in a more or less novelistic vein (Harr's previous book, A Civil Action, was made into a John Travolta movie), Harr doesn't plump up hi tale. He almost never foreshadows, doesn't implausibly reconstruct entire conversations and rarely throws in litanies of clearly conjectured or imagined details just for color's sake. . .if you're a sucker for Rome, and for dusk. . .[you'll] enjoy Harr's more clearly reported details about life in the city, as when--one of my favorite moments in the whole book--Francesca and another young colleague try to calm their nerves before a crucial meeting with a forbidding professor by eating gelato. And who wouldn't in Italy? The pleasures of travelogue here are incidental but not inconsiderable." --The New York Times Book Review


"Jonathan Harr has taken the story of the lost painting, and woven from it a deeply moving narrative about history, art and taste--and about the greed, envy, covetousness and professional jealousy of people who fall prey to obsession. It is as perfect a work of narrative nonfiction as you could ever hope to read." --The Economist ... Read more

Customer Reviews (86)

I loved it (and so did five of my friends)!
The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece
For anyone who loves art, especially Caravaggio, mysteries, and Ireland, this is a must read. Couldn't put it down. It is especially interesting how the search for the painting is attacked from two ends: the researchers who are looking for the painting and the owners who don't know what they have. If, after having read the book, you don't book the first plane to Dublin and drop into the National Gallery of Art just to see the painting, you are really missing a treat.

Intriguing Art Mystery
As an earlier reviewer noted, many scholars acknowledge that there probably are several missing Caravaggio masterpieces lying about forgotten and neglected.

And, indeed, just as I began reading this book, a November 2006 news report announced that a painting owned by Queen Elizabeth II had been revealed to be a lost work by the Italian master Caravaggio.

The picture, which has been in the Royal Family's possession for about 400 years, had been dismissed as a copy, being obscured by varnish and dirt. It had been left in a storeroom at Hampton Court for decades until experts from the Royal Collection set about restoring the piece. After they spent six years studying the painting, they announced that is "The Calling Of Saints Peter and Andrew", a genuine Caravaggio and one of only 50 surviving canvases by the 17th century artist.

Reports estimated the painting, which was first bought by Charles I, sold and then reacquired by Charles II, could be worth more than £50 million --$100 million at current exchange rates!

Reads like a mystery.
I wasn't sure if this was fact or fiction. It reads like a mystery story. It grabs you, and keeps you intrigued throughout. It's a kick to learn that it's all true! Great read!

interesting and mysterious
I love historical fiction and this book was just marvelous.Mr. Harr does an excellent job of describing the landscapes of Italy and Great Britain, plus he seemelessly weaves art history instruction into the story.A must read for art fans!

Should have been good, but it wasn't.
This was a disappointment. The hunt for a lost Caravaggio, the digging about in archives, the scientific test to see "is it really?", should be fascinating. But it's not. And I cannot stand non-fiction writers who think they have to make their books read like fiction. Where is the critical analysis? Where is the index? Where are the footnotes? Non-fiction needs references. You cannot expect me to believe what you are writing unless you tell me where you got the information. A bibliography and acknowledgements don't cut it.

I'm seeing this more and more in non-fiction and it drives me right up the wall.

And who the heck had the idea of publishing a book about a Caravaggio painting with NO, I repeat NO, illustrations? ... Read more

Product Description
Caravaggio's sojourn on the island of Malta in 1607-08 is one of the most fascinating episodes in Baroque art. The painter had committed a murder in Rome in May 1606 and subsequently fled to Naples, where he soon became well-known for his gritty, naturalistic altarpieces. Suddenly, in the early summer of 1607, he decided to leave his thriving Neapolitan studio for the newly built city of Valletta, the headquarters of the Knights of Malta. The chance to obtain a knighthood and redeem himself for his Roman crime was no doubt foremost in his mind.

Written by two leading authorities in the field, this richly illustrated book tells the story of Caravaggio's voyage to Malta, his interactions with the Knights and their leader, Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt, and the magnificent paintings he made for them. Among the works he produced on the island are the Beheading of St John the Baptist - his largest and only signed picture - and the St Jerome Writing, a canvas of exceptional pyschological force.

The book presents new iconographic, technical, and stylistic analyses of all of the Maltese pictures as well as two chapters devoted to discussions of Caravaggio's importance in the history of art and the chronological problems in his late works. Based on original archival research, this study also includes an account of Caravaggio's crime in Malta, his imprisonment, and his daring escape to Sicily. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

H&J Bailey
We purchased "Caravaggio: Painter of miracles" in preparation for a tour to ITALY dedicated to the works of Caravaggio that we found in Rome, Naples and Florence. It was an excellent preparation.
Excellent sketch of Caravaggio's life, and overview of his opus. The author's clear and aggressive prose fits Caravaggio to a T. The text was easily read and exciting in it's coverage of things Caravaggio.
I recommend the book to any person interested in Caravaggio and I intend to pursue other works by the author Francine Prose.

The Sinner-Saint
Francine Prose's "Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles" is part of a series ofshort biographies called "Eminent Lives" in which famous authors write about great historical figures. The aim of the series is not be produce scholarly or definitive works; instead it is to offer the reader a gateway into the works and importance of the subject to inspire further exploration and thought.

Francine Prose is best-known as a novelist. She offers in this book an elegant short guide to the great Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573 -- 1610).Caravaggio's story is one of the most romantic and tantalizing in art.He moved to Rome as a young man of 21 and established his reputation as a painter of importance, turning early in his career to paintings of religious themes.But Caravaggio's life was tumultuous, violent, and brutal.He was never without his dagger, even when he slept.He brawled and fought and consorted with the low life of Rome, and was forced to flee the city after killing a man in a dispute that involved a bet over a game of tennis.In exile, Caravaggio continued to live violently, to flee from place to place, and to paint masterpieces.Prose captures the tension between Caravaggio's tortured life and his artistry. She writes:

"The life of Caravaggio is the closes thing we have to the myth of the sinner-saint, the street tough, the martyr, the killer, the genius -- the myth that, in these jaded and secular times, we are almost ashamed to admit that we still long for, and need. .. Each time we see his paintings, we are reminded of why we still care so profoundly about this artist who continues to speak to us in his urgent, intimate language, audible centuries after the voices of his more civilized, presentable colleagues have fallen silent". (p. 13)

Prose did not get me very far into Caravaggio's life.She is much more successful in describing the paintings, which she does in good detail for a short book. The book includes 11 color plates of some ofCaravaggio's masterpieces, from the beginning to the end of his career. Prose has helpful things to say in helping the reader to understand these works and the circumstances of their creation -- she helps the nonspecialist learn to look at and respond to a painting. I found her especially good in discussing Caravaggio's paintings of the "Calling of Saint Matthew"-- where she eloquently shows the artist depicting a conversion experience -- and its companion work, "The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew."Prose also discusses well many paintings that are not reproduced in the book.In order to get the most from these discussions, the reader will need to find these paintings in another source-- this book has as its goal, after all, encouraging further exploration of Caravaggio.

Prose finds Caravaggio's greatness lies in his honesty, directness, and naturalism.She stresses how is works communicate directly with the viewer.Prose also emphasizes how Caravaggio used common people and places and the tough street life with which he was familiar in his paintings, including the use of rough laborers, common dwellings, gypsies, and prostitutes.Caravaggio's work combined elements of violence and low life with deep spirituality as he explored the mysteries of faith, conversion experiences,loneliness, and martyrdom.Caravaggio's brilliance as a painter, and the highly modern tension his work suggests between the spiritual and the mundane, are reasons why many people will continue to be fascinated by his work.

Prose's book doesn't capture fully the reasons why Caravaggio's work continues to live and to move people.But her book will encourage reflection upon and further exploration of the work of this great and troubled artist.

Robin Friedman

A brief life with no new insights
Francine Prose writes well and with a light ironic touch but this slim volume adds little to what we already know about Caravaggio. At a little over 100 pages and with only a handful of color illustrations the book amounts to little more than an extended essay of Ms. Prose's reactions to Caravaggio's major works. There are very many better books showing the paintings and Prose doesn't go into the camera obscura technique that Caravaggio undoubtedly used, giving his paintings an almost photo-realistic representation of his subjects.

That Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was a brawler with a passion for picking fights worthy of "Fight Club" who combined erratic behavior with some sublime paintings is hardly an insight. A much better treatment of the life and psychology of the artist appears in Peter Robb's 1998 "M: The Man who Became Caravaggio" which curiously is unreferenced by Prose.

Although Prose notes that Caravaggio broke away from the stylized poses and unearthly lighting of the mannerists, I don't think she clearly explains his genius.

A good book.....
This was a good book because it made me curious about Caravaggio.I subsequently bought another book that was a much more thorough biography of Caravaggio.

Great overview for the non Art professional
A great little book that covers what is known about a true bad boy of art, a tormented genius that challenged the accepted art of his time and changed the direction of painting, not something lightly done in those times.For this he was applauded, sought out, paid very well; he respond with bad judgment and madness.This book hits all the highlights and story points a non-art professional would want with being bogged down in too much 'art philosophy' that books on artists sometime drop into making it hard for an amateur to wade through.This is an excellent intro to Caravaggio.You should read this and then follow it up with The Lost Painting: A Quest For A Caravaggio Masterpiece, the amazing and true story of how one of Caravaggio's lost paintings was found in the 1990s. ... Read more

Book Description
Few artists fascinate as much as Caravaggio and few artists have proved so elusive. Beyond his reputation as a violent, homosexual misfit given to public brawls and frequent arrest, ony a few real facts about his life are known. His flights from Rome, Naples, and Malta, the likelihood of him having killed a man, and his own possible murder in 1610 are the enigmatic traces of a life as shrouded in mystery as the subjects of his vigorously realistic paintings. In this novel, Christopher Peachment has set out to imaginatively re-invent this wild and dangerous character in all his blaspheming, raging and creative glory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Irreverent delight
Peachment led me on an engaging and entertaining adventure through Caravaggio's life. I was not the least concerned by anachronisms and inaccuracies. What I got was an "artist's impression" - and I loved it.

Do yourself a favour if you plan to read this book: get hold of a book of Caravaggio's pictures so that you can study each picture while reading "Caravaggio's" description of it. I bought Timothy Wilson-Smith's "Caravaggio" and went back and reread Peachment's book. There's great delight in comparing Wilson-Smith's formal and presumably "accurate" analysis with Peachment's ("Caravaggio's") irreverent possibly inaccurate account.

Bulldozing Art History
I picked this book up in an art museum gift shop during a recent exhibit on Caravaggio.I finally abandoned the book halfway through because of small inaccuracies that to me became extremely irritating.I'm all for a little revisionist history and poetic license in fiction, but seeing as the story is supposed to be told by Caravaggio himself, certain passages did not ring true.For example, indicating that a neighborhood in Malta looked like it had been "bulldozed" (in 1600?-- the current sense of a machine for clearing or leveling came into usage around 1930), the use of the pejorative "frog" for Frenchmen (probably in use since 1850), andhis account of entering Rome, "I [Caravaggio] entered Rome from the north, through serious bandit country and starving farms, and then past Cinecitta, where I later used to go and join Federico, and help him indulge his taste for good life..."Cinecitta (literally "cinema city") was established in 1937 to promote the Italian film industry. References to Federico (Fellini) and the "good life" = La Dolce Vita might be clever from the author's viewpoint, but it destroyed credibility with this reader who believes that the language in a period novel should ring true (even though admittedly Caravaggio was not anglophone) and historical accuracy should be respected.I recommend you find another account of Caravaggio's fascinating life.

Caravaggio in the Raw
Caravaggio was in many ways a "raw" human being, and Peachment's novel of the painter's life reflects this aspect of his subject: if this novel were a movie, it would be rated "X" for language, sex, and violence. The narrator of the novel is Caravaggio himself, who retells his life - or rather, I must say, Peachment's fantasy of his life - in an extended address to the reader. Mystery, rage, painting, murder, alienation, anddebauchery are all grist for the novelist's mill. Baudelaire would have loved it.

Peachment is a new novelist, but an experienced arts writer, and we should not underestimate him. In the course of his narrative, the author describes every one of Caravaggio's known paintings, and usually in a way which I found interesting and even illuminating. He emphasizes always the circumstantial and concrete, rather than the "aesthetic," aspects of the works; indeed, the most important chapter of this book describes an incident in which the painter destroys one of his canvases, in rage against the intellectuals and aesthetes who love his art for all the wrong reasons. It's a valuable perspective, and one which we all can learn from.

On the other hand: Peachment's writing is episodic, with awkward transitions between short chapters; there is repetition, ranting and raving, and pure fantasy; it seems a very one-sided portrait, even for a novelist, of Caravaggio the artist and the man. On the whole, while I appreciated what Peachment was trying to do, I felt somewhat distanced from the book, even as I was turning its pages. I'm glad that I read it, and feel that it had some valuable insights to offer, but somehow I could not love it; perhaps those who knew Caravaggio, in his lifetime, felt the same way! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

it's possibly for certain
Engaging, quick read in the form of a mystery that tackles some weighty philosophical-religious issues and the timely (and timeless) matter of the need for certainty in a world that refuses to offer any.Proponents of using character witnesses at trials won't be too happy, but E. Loftus fans will howl at this one.

Intellectual, cultural tour de force-ending blew me away!
This is a great book for artists, specifically passionate,
cutting-edge artists who loathe the mundane.And it's a
wonderful 'detective' story, with surprise endings.Yes, that's
a plural - it deliversone-two-three K.O.'s right up to the
very end...don't miss the final "Editor's Note," either.I love
a literary roller coaster ride, and this book is one of those, with, as mentioned, a Big Finish.

The book made me want to jump on a plane to Rome,
as well.My mouth watered, thinking of all those
gorgeous Caravaggios I haven't seen.Or at least I'll go
searcing for a "complete works of..." art book with full color repros.

Where has Atl Naess been all my life?Plan to read more, if
I can get my hands on his work.

Historical Who-Done-It for the Discerning Reader
Atle Naess tells the fictionalized story of painter Michel Angelo Merisi da Caravaggio (known to us today simply as Caravaggio) using the device of a contemporary cleric's investigation into the events that led up to Caravaggio's exile from Rome:whoring, brawling, and finally a verbal argument that ends in another man's death.Different witnesses give their versions of the painter and his shocking exploits, such as attacking a waiter who serves him improperly cooked asparagus or sitting with a dying prostitute so that he can use her agony as a model for The Death of the Virgin.Finally, we discover the surprising details of Caravaggioýs own death.

Naess, in his "Concluding Unscholarly Comment by the Editor," says:

"I began work on this publication in search of a certain clarity.It was, of course, my interest in the art, ideas and social history of the seventeenth century that prompted it, but if I may be permitted a remark of a private nature:I was driven also by personal need.
"It was the need to describe and comprehend holiness.This could also be expressed as the wise to reconstruct this lost power, which we no longer understand and which thus causes large areas of our history to have become incomprehensible to us" (154, 155).

Doubting Thomas makes perfectly clear our human shortcomings, our inability to attain holiness, but I'm not any clearer, really, about what holiness is.I see that it is NOT collecting sensually appealing, gorgeous artworks that are ostensibly religious in nature; nor it is about the competition of high-ranking churchmen to possess the greatest collection of such art.Caravaggio paints works which inspire some to deep religious feeling, yet utterly fails in his human relationships to attain Christian ideals of self-control, forgiveness, and love.He uses everyone around him as pawns to his art, rejects his family, and sleeps with his models, who are generally prostitutes (but are sometimes young boys).In its quest to comprehend holiness, this novel may serve only to prove in the end that, as the prophet said, "There is none holy, no, not one."

And yet, on the fringes of our perception, there is something pure and holy, something that shines through Caravaggio's art and all the confusion that surrounds our lives.It would be difficult to formulate a simple "theme statement" about this novel after a single reading, as high school teachers often ask students to do, yet Naess does seem to suggest that, as flawed as human beings are, we may be able to create something that points toward the infinite glory of God.

Doubting Thomas was deservedly a best seller in Europe, and I read it with great attention and interest.Nevertheless, I did not I enjoy it in the way one enjoys a simple who-done-it.Doubting Thomas left me disturbed, raising more questions than it answered. I would recommend this thought-provoking book to readers looking for a post-modern, historical detective novel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Impressive!!!
Someone made a reference in 1999 that this is an 80 page book. It is 127 pages and filled with quality color plates. The paper's a bit thin, but certainly adequate, as is the text. I have just finished reading 'The Lost Painting', and wanted to peruse some of the works discussed in the book (a fascinating read and/or listen with the audio book). Another reviewer noted this is as a wonderful book to begin a collection. The publisher, Phaidon, really puts out some fine materials. I own three of their publications now, one being '50 Self-Portraits' and another on Tadema. If you have an inclination to dwell awhile on the stunning legacy of Caravaggio, this should more than do the job.

Great Price....
This is a nice overview of the work of Caravaggio.. and the price is very good - I saw a similar collection (though it was hardcover) for nearly $100 - I am satisfied with this general overview for much cheaper. I think the colors are pretty good - and the artwork is, of course, timeless!

Caravaggio (Colour Library) by Timothy Wilson-Smith
I have recently returned from the met and observed the great colour used by Caravaggio and was inspired to by the book.This contains a great of information and has great paintings on my favourite artist--Caravaggio.God bless

Well worth it!
This book contains many beautiful full page photos of the works of Caravaggio.Each painting is accompanied with a brief explanation.References and comparisons are made to other famous works by great artistic masters.A great book to begin your art book collection!

please note!!!!!
please note!!!!the reviews and synopsis listed here are not for this 80 page book, but rather for the new puglisi book out now.very misleading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 ... Read more

Product Description
Nominated and Short-listed for the 2005 William Saroyan International Prize for WritingBorn Michelangelo Merisi, as an adult he became known by the name of his birthplace, Caravaggio (1571-1610), he was the most revolutionary artist of the Italian Baroque. Consistently emphasizing the humanity of his religious subjects, he established a new way of painting. The intensity of his chiaroscuro style is matched only by the drama of his life. Outlaw, heretic, murderer, and sensualist were a few of the charges brought against him by his contemporaries. Patrick Hunt s wide-ranging professional and personal scholarship allows him to interpret Caravaggio s complicated religious and classical imagery while anchoring his art in his life. ... Read more

Book Description