Review, buy Sculpture: Caravaggio: A Life, Enclosure: Andy Goldsworthy, Bob Dylan: the Drawn Blank Series: Watercolor and Gouache, The Lives of the Artists (Oxford World's Classics), Behind Closed Doors: The Art of Hans Bellmer (Discovery), The Art of Letter Carving in Stone, Art in Theory, 1900-1990. An Anthology of Changing Ideas, The Art and Craft of Polymer Clay: Techniques and Inspiration for Jewellery, Beads and the Decorative Arts, Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance, Model-Making: Materials and Methods, The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays (Arts & Letters), Contemporary Art: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions), Leonardo's Machines: Da Vinci's Inventions Revealed, The Language of Sculpture, Art Nouveau Designs (Design Source Books), Leonardo (Taschen 25th Anniversary), Herculaneum: Italy's Buried Treasure, The World of Beryl Cook, Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence, A Book of Surrealist Games

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Caravaggio: A Life (Pimlico)

Authors

Helen Langdon

Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 1999-11-04
Dewey code: 759.5
RRP: ~~£16.99~~
Price: £8.80

Review Caravaggio: A Life / Pimlico:

Nicholas Poussin once said that Caravaggio had come into the world to destroy painting. Helen Langdon's marvellous new biography Caravaggio: A Life suggests that rather than destroying painting the Milanese painter gave it a new lease of life. Upon his arrival in Rome Caravaggio boldly ended a tradition of Italian Renaissance painting, and created a radically new naturalistic style which continues to dazzle and influence today. Beautifully poised between biographical scholarship and artistic appreciation, Langdon's biography provides the reader with a complex, fascinating 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 bring to life the streets and brothels of early 17th-century Rome, which provided Caravaggio with the inspiration for so 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 the biographer. But Langdon's achievement is to produce a compelling portrait of the artist which throws new light on his paintings. Here is a painter who is 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 colour illustrations, Helen Langdon's Caravaggio is a worthy contribution to scholarly study of this artist. [+]

-Jerry Brotton.

Review Caravaggio: A Life / Pimlico:

Review Enclosure: Andy Goldsworthy / Thames & Hudson Ltd:

Review Bob Dylan: the Drawn Blank Series: Watercolor and Gouache / Prestel:

Review The Lives of the Artists (Oxford World's Classics) / Oxford Paperbacks:

Review Behind Closed Doors: The Art of Hans Bellmer (Discovery) / University of California Press:

Review The Art of Letter Carving in Stone / The Crowood Press Ltd:

Review Art in Theory, 1900-1990. An Anthology of Changing Ideas / Blackwell:

Review The Art and Craft of Polymer Clay: Techniques and Inspiration for Jewellery, Beads and the Decorative Arts / A & C Black Publishers Ltd:

Review Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance / Vintage:

Review Model-Making: Materials and Methods / The Crowood Press Ltd:

Review The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays (Arts & Letters) / Phaidon Press Ltd:

Review Contemporary Art: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) / OUP Oxford:

Review Leonardo's Machines: Da Vinci's Inventions Revealed / David & Charles PLC:

Review The Language of Sculpture / Thames & Hudson Ltd:

Review Art Nouveau Designs (Design Source Books) / Search Press Ltd:

Review Leonardo (Taschen 25th Anniversary) / Taschen GmbH:

Review Herculaneum: Italy's Buried Treasure / J. Paul Getty Museum:

Review The World of Beryl Cook / Prestel:

Review Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence / Tuttle Publishing,US:

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