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The first biographies of Caravaggio: key documents of one of the greatest revolutions in the history of art. In the course of a short and violent life, Michelangelo Merisl da Caravaggio (1571-1610) revolutionized painting, producing a style of shockingly immediate realism that swept through Europe. The impact of his art and personality continue to resonate to this day. Almost everything we know about Caravaggio's life comes from these three early biographies, which reflect the sometimes horrified fascination that Caravaggio exerted on his contemporaries. Giulio Mancini was Caravaggio's doctor; Giovanni Baglione a bitter rival and art historian; Giovanni Pietro Baglione the most judicious art historian of the following generation. All three provide a vivid picture of a man whose life reads in part like a thriller, as well as a fascinating window onto a world and habits of seeing that were mercilessly challenged by his art. This edition is the first independent publication of these Lives of Caravaggio. It is Introduced by the leading expert on the painter, Dr. Helen Langdon, who elucidates the historical and artistic context of these biographies and the men who wrote them. 29 pages of colour illustrations cover the span of Caravaggio's astonishing career.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Caravaggio is a fascinating painter whose life and work is subject to constant 'celebrity' brouhaha about killings, homosexuality and deviancy, with a constant stream of modern sensationalist writings (some, alas, burying recent documentary discoveries in a plethora of speculation and conjecture); and yet, in the main, almost all we need to know, the essential facts about his life, are derived from the three Italian sources translated and republished here in this amazingly cheap book (previously gathered together in Howard Hibbard's still wonderful but quite rare 1983 monograph). Students will be grateful for Helen Langdon's considered and (in terms of Caravaggio studies) temperate introduction, placing the three biographies in context, which in view of Caravaggio's stormy short life might be a disappointment to those who like their art history over-cooked; quite rightly Langdon's efforts are to point out that the excitement of Caravagio's life comes from these sources and above all the pictures, of which the reader is provided with a small selection related directly to the text. Some of the reproductions are, it is true, quite small, when the pictures are often very large, but as a vade mecum to carry in the pocket, perhaps particularly when walking around Rome, Naples or Malta in search of the originals, this is a delightful little book that those interested in the painter should not be without.
Format:Paperback
This book could have been a must, a book that every art historian should have.
Unfortunately, after opening the book, the impression the reader gets is that it is a rather sloppy publication - which is surprising, as there is the contribution (introduction) of Helen Langdon (well-known Caravaggio scholar).
To begin with, the frontispiece has a gross mistake in red letters: GIORGIO Mancini instead of GIULIO Mancini. One cannot help but wonder: what other mistakes am I going to find in the rest of the book, given the little accuracy that this huge mistake -right at the very beginning- is clearly highlighting?
Secondly, the lives of Caravaggio by GIULIO Mancini, Giovanni Baglione and Giovanni Pietro Bellori are not a revised and updated translation, as one would expect, but just an anthology of old (and not very accurate) translations taken from Hibbard's 'Caravaggio', printed in 1983.
This is very deceiving and mischievous, because it should be made very clear by the publisher that this anthology is NOT BY Helen Langdon, that these lives are NOT an updated and revised translation, and that they are taken by Howard Hibbard's book from 1983.
In conclusion, it is a shame that what could have been a very handy anthology of Caravaggio's lives turned out to be one of the many useless publications on the painter. This book does not add anything to our current knowledge on Caravaggio. After all, any library has Howard Hibbard's or Helen Langdon's book on Caravaggio. So why wasting money on this one since it is just a sloppy cut and paste?
Unfortunately, after opening the book, the impression the reader gets is that it is a rather sloppy publication - which is surprising, as there is the contribution (introduction) of Helen Langdon (well-known Caravaggio scholar).
To begin with, the frontispiece has a gross mistake in red letters: GIORGIO Mancini instead of GIULIO Mancini. One cannot help but wonder: what other mistakes am I going to find in the rest of the book, given the little accuracy that this huge mistake -right at the very beginning- is clearly highlighting?
Secondly, the lives of Caravaggio by GIULIO Mancini, Giovanni Baglione and Giovanni Pietro Bellori are not a revised and updated translation, as one would expect, but just an anthology of old (and not very accurate) translations taken from Hibbard's 'Caravaggio', printed in 1983.
This is very deceiving and mischievous, because it should be made very clear by the publisher that this anthology is NOT BY Helen Langdon, that these lives are NOT an updated and revised translation, and that they are taken by Howard Hibbard's book from 1983.
In conclusion, it is a shame that what could have been a very handy anthology of Caravaggio's lives turned out to be one of the many useless publications on the painter. This book does not add anything to our current knowledge on Caravaggio. After all, any library has Howard Hibbard's or Helen Langdon's book on Caravaggio. So why wasting money on this one since it is just a sloppy cut and paste?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
The Lives of Caravaggio
24 Sep 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a great little book that has collected all the writings about Caravaggio from three famous art historians of the 17th and 18th centuries (Mancini, Baglione and Bellori). Very handy as it has all the extracts from their own art histories in the one small volume; saving the reader the time, effort and money of looking for each of their individual books and then chasing down their comments on the favourite artist in their books. A nice little addition to any Caravaggio fan's collection - small enough to keep close to your heart!
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