Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Caravaggio: A Passionate Life
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Caravaggio: A Passionate Life [Hardcover]

Desmond Seward (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Available from these sellers.


Product Details

Product Description

From Amazon

Historian Desmond Seward has written an indispensable book on Caravaggio--equally balanced and historically double-checked. But even with all its references, dates, names, quotes, and careful scholarship, this biography reads like a novel that is impossible to put down. Caravaggio, of course, with his "wild, wild spirit" and "very strange temper," according to contemporary accounts, is a natural subject for a galloping narrative. Caravaggio's religious and social status as a Knight of Malta, his protection by a famous cardinal, his street fighting, his fine silk clothes worn until they rotted away, his prostitute models and lowlife friends, his repeated failure to win a commission for St. Peter's, and his bitterness at the rise of mediocre rivals are just some of the ingredients of this good read.

What Seward does, to riveting perfection, is convey 16th-century life to the reader. He takes Caravaggio's renowned naturalism and shows us where it came from. He transports readers to Rome in the 1590s, where they explore the old stones of the ancient empire, step over the human excrement in the streets, and witness the pageantry of luxurious horse-drawn carriages promenading through the mud. Readers lurk with Seward in the darkness, light lamps and candles, and feel the damp as the Tiber rises, leaving behind more than a thousand corpses when it finally recedes after a terrible flood. They stand in the crowd and watch as the heads and bodies of decapitated criminals are quartered and hoisted on spears and ramparts for display. Gradually readers get the feeling that Caravaggio's predilection for severed heads was less the product of a tormented imagination than it was simply all in a day's observation for an unwavering realist. --Peggy Moorman

From Publishers Weekly

Seward's passionately partisan life of the painter Michel Angelo da Caravaggio presents the master of chiaroscuro as a figure maligned by art historians and laymen (such as the late Derek Jarman), who have, Seward claims, mistakenly held him up as a darkly glamorous, homosexual and antisocial icon. Seward downplays Caravaggio's duels and deals with criminals, considering them reactions to the violence of 17th-century Rome. Caravaggio served as artist-in-residence to Cardinal Francesco del Monte, who was rumored in his lifetime to be homosexual, and who sponsored several of Caravaggio's more romantic paintings of young men; his servitu particulare is adequately defended here as a business relationship between a heterosexual painter and his celibate patron. In focusing on Caravaggio's artistic triumphs rather than his personal idiosyncrasies, Seward portrays the painter as a man of strong faith; according to the author, his art exemplifies the Counter-Reformation's exaltation of both the theatrical and the humble, while his realistic depictions of people and his dramatic, unnatural lighting anticipate later painters' realism. Caravaggio joined the Catholic order of the Knights of Malta (which Seward depicted in The Monks of War) only to be imprisoned in a Maltese dungeon after a duel with a higher-ranking Knight. From there, his life slid further into misery. It's a tragic tale, from what we can know of it; Seward's trail of evidence runs cold at times, reducing him to conjecture such as "All we can be sure of is that [Caravaggio's motif of decapitation] reflected some hidden anguish." Seward apologizes, excuses, exonerates Caravaggio too often (contrast Johanna Falk's treatment of the pedophile Egon Schiele in Arrogance); were it not for that narrative tendency, this look at late Renaissance Umbria and one of its most powerful artists, would be a truly engaging contribution to the field. 16 photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Product Description

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

1 Review
5 star:    (0)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Caravaggio is Caravaggio, Oct 13 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Caravaggio: A Passionate Life (Hardcover)
Any biography of Caravaggio is bound to be immensely interesting because he was far from ordinary, someone who will never fail to shock and amuse modern readers. While several reviews I have read complain about the brevity of the book, I found its length appropriate-it did the artist justice without bogging the reader down with too much analysis and irrelevant details. It assumes some familiarity with Italy and European history, but it has several chapters devoted solely to discussing the time period, while always making a connection to Caravaggio's life. I found it particularly nice that nearly all of Caravaggio's paintings were discussed and analyzed within the biography. The book has several copies of paintings inserted in its middle, but lacks the majority. Therefore, I found it incredibly helpful to have my Caravaggio anthology nearby so that I could follow the author's discussions. Undoubtedly, anyone that is not a Caravaggio fan would find these sections tremendously boring, but I loved the opportunity to pore over his paintings with a new understanding of their significance and context.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.1 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling and colorful look at Caravaggio's life, Jan 19 1999
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Caravaggio: A Passionate Life (Hardcover)
As a longtime fan of Caravaggio's works, I found Desmond Seward's biography to be fascinating and informative. Seward fills his book with wonderful details that help flesh out the social milieu of the artist's lifetime, a picture of a world as violent and yet fervently religious as Caravaggio himself. The writing is crisp and colorful, never failing to evoke the various settings in which Caravaggio lived. I thought perhaps Seward was a bit too fastidious about the possibility of Caravaggio's homosexual side, but on the other hand I appreciate the way Seward rescues Caravaggio from the PC types who would try to claim Caravaggio as a gay icon when he was certainly not exclusively so; nor did the artist live in an era when such personality distinctions were made. I also like the emphasis Seward placed on Caravaggio's faith and his struggles with his temperamental personality, giving us a more rounded picture of a man with many contradictory elements in his character.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Account of Caravaggio and his works, Nov 25 1999
By Aussie Reader ""Rick"" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Caravaggio: A Passionate Life (Hardcover)
Firstly an admission, I had no prior knowledge of Caravaggio or his paintings. My main area of interest is military history but after seeing the beautiful cover on this book I picked it up and browsed through the wonderful colour plates. I had to have the book to read and after ordering it from Amazon.com and sat and waited. It was worth the wait! I enjoyed the story of this most interesting man, yes its a bit short (200 odd pages) but to a person like me who had no prior knowledge or interest in this subject it filled a gap in my education. This was an interesting book to read and I just loved the colour plates of the artists work (16 colour pictures). The book has sparked an interest to learn more of this man, his times and his art. For that alone the book was worth it and the author has done his job. I would recommend this book for those who want to learn a little bit more about this man and his art.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars you'll love it., Mar 17 2000
By Jiaxing Rong - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Caravaggio: A Passionate Life (Hardcover)
This may be the best of the new Caravaggio books. As a painter and a student of art history, I found this book by Seward to be absolutely absorbing. Seward not only gives insight about Caravaggio's life, but also delves into the events that may have inspired his paintings. Please read this exciting book!
› Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews  4.1 out of 5 stars 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews


Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject























i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?