Caravaggio: A Life Sacred And Profane - Softcover

Graham-Dixon, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241954649 ISBN 13: 9780241954645

Publisher: Penguin UK, 2011

Synopsis

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio lived the darkest and most dangerous life of any of the great painters. The worlds of Milan, Rome and Naples through which Caravaggio moved and which Andrew Graham-Dixon describes brilliantly in this book, are those of cardinals and whores, prayer and violence. On the streets surrounding the churches and palaces, brawls and swordfights were regular occurrences. In the course of this desperate life Caravaggio created the most dramatic paintings of his age, using ordinary men and women - often prostitutes and the very poor - to model for his depictions of classic religious scenes. Andrew Graham-Dixon's exceptionally illuminating readings of Caravaggio'spictures, which are the heart of the book, show very clearly how he created their drama, immediacy and humanity, and how completely he departed from the conventions of his time.

About this title

About the Author:

Andrew Graham Dixon is one of the leading art critics and presenters of arts television programmes in the English-speaking world. He has presented six landmark series on art for the BBC, including the acclaimed A History of British Art, Renaissance, and Art of Eternity, as well as numerous individual documentaries on art and artists. For more than 20 years, he has published a weekly column on art, first in the Independent and, more recently, in the Sunday Telegraph. He has written a number of books on subjects ranging from medieval painting and sculpture, to contemporary art.

Review:

Caravaggio has rarely been seen in such depth and such relief as in this marvellous biography. Andrew Graham-Dixon reads Caravaggio's paintings with the habits and assumptions, thoughts and fears of his contemporaries so that we see and feel the paintings more acutely and intensely than before. The man and his work emerge enriched and enlivened -- Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane gave me immense pleasure and provided constant delight. It is a thrilling lesson in the art of seeing, a sensual exploration of the shadows of Caravaggio's sometimes violent but always Christian world, a detective story with a highly satisfying ending. Andrew Graham-Dixon's ability to have a reader see a painting through written language is a rare and precious gift. The book's rigour and integrity are obvious. I trusted every word and was sorry to turn the final page -- Peter Carey

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin UK
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0241954649
• ISBN 13: 9780241954645
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 544