Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles (Eminent Lives)

Book Description

Francine Prose's life of Caravaggio evokes the genius of this great artist through a brilliant reading of his paintings. Caravaggio defied the aesthetic conventions of his time; his use of ordinary people, realistically portrayed—street boys, prostitutes, the poor, the aged—was a profound and revolutionary innovation that left its mark on generations of artists. His insistence on painting from nature, on rendering the emotional truth of experience, whether religious or secular, makes him an artist who speaks across the centuries to our own time.

Born in 1571 near Milan, Michelangelo Merisi (da Caravaggio) moved to Rome when he was twenty-one years old. He became a brilliant and successful artist, protected by the influential Cardinal del Monte and other patrons. But he was also a man of the streets who couldn't seem to free himself from its brawls and vendettas. In 1606 he fled Rome, apparently after killing another man in a dispute. He spent his last years in exile, in Naples, Malta, and Sicily, at once celebrated for his art and tormented by his enemies. Through it all, he produced masterpieces of astonishing complexity and power. Eventually he received a pardon from the Pope, only to die, in mysterious circumstances, on the way back to Rome in 1610.

Francine Prose presents the brief but tumultuous life of one of the greatest of all painters with passion and acute sensitivity.

Customer Reviews:

H&J Bailey.......2007-05-13

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.......2007-02-28

Francine Prose's "Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles" is part of a series of short 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 of Caravaggio'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.......2006-12-08

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............2006-11-03

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.......2006-06-10

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.

Caravaggio: Painter Of Miracles (Eminent Lives series)

Average customer rating:

Caravaggio: Painter Of Miracles (Eminent Lives series)
Francine Prose
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0060833785

Vasari's Lives of the artists;: Biographies of the most eminent architects, painters, and sculptors of Italy

Average customer rating:

For those who might be interested.

Vasari's Lives of the artists;: Biographies of the most eminent architects, painters, and sculptors of Italy
Giorgio Vasari
Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007DU7DU

Customer Reviews:

For those who might be interested........2005-06-27

(This review refers to the 'unknown binding'). Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter and designer. He was born in Arezzo in 1511 and died in 1574. Though he thought himself to be one of the leading artists of his time, only his 'lives' are now worthwhile remembering.

Vasari gives a description of the works and lives of more than 165 painters, sculptors and architects. The work published by Abrams in 1979 and translated into English by Gaston Du C. de Vere (in 1912) has 2322 pages divided in three volumes, leather bound (only the back) and with colour illustrations on separate leaflets glued on the page and protected by transparant paper. A rich decorated box protects the three volumes.

You could consider ' the lives ' as an encyclopedia of Italian art starting with Giovanni Cimabue (1240 - 1302) and closing with Bronzino (1503 - 1572).

Biographical History of the Fine Arts 2 Vols the Lives and Works of Eminent Painters, Engravers, sculptors, and Architects

Average customer rating:

Biographical History of the Fine Arts 2 Vols the Lives and Works of Eminent Painters, Engravers, sculptors, and Architects

Manufacturer: Leypoldt and Holt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H739A4

A Biographical History Of The Fine Arts V2 M To Z: Being Memoirs Of The Lives And Works Of Eminent Painters, Engravers, Sculptors And Architects (A Biographical History of the Fine Arts)

Average customer rating:

A Biographical History Of The Fine Arts V2 M To Z: Being Memoirs Of The Lives And Works Of Eminent Painters, Engravers, Sculptors And Architects (A Biographical History of the Fine Arts)
S. Spooner
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Artists, Architects & Photographers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1430457775

Book Description

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century in Eight (8) Volumes

Average customer rating:

A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century in Eight (8) Volumes
C.; (Based on the Work of John Smith; Translated By Edward G. Hawke) Hofstede De Groot
Manufacturer: Macmillan and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000TYJEIG

A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, in which is included a short biographical notice of the artists, with a copious description of their principal pictures , Part 1

Average customer rating:

A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, in which is included a short biographical notice of the artists, with a copious description of their principal pictures , Part 1
John Smith
Manufacturer: Smith and Son
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IV1258

Average customer rating:

A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, in which is included a short biographical notice of the artists, with a copious description of their principal pictures , Part 3
John Smith
Manufacturer: Smith and Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IV4CPA

Average customer rating:

A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, in which is included a short biographical notice of the artists, with a copious description of their principal pictures , Part 6
John Smith
Manufacturer: Smith & Son
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IV1276

Average customer rating:

A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, in which is included a short biographical notice of the artists, with a copious description of their principal pictures. Part 2
John Smith
Manufacturer: Smith and Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IV5N2Q

Book Description

* First comprehensive, full-length study of St. Enda’s School
* Enriches the body of knowledge on one of Ireland’s most intriguing historical figures, Patrick Pearse
* Explores the concepts of boyhood, masculinity and Irish identity

When the gates of St. Enda’s opened in 1908 its headmaster and founder Patrick Pearse, declared that the school would be an ‘educational adventure’ for nationalist boys. Pearse’s desire was that St. Enda’s would create a modern Irish boy educated in the scholarly tradition of the early Celtic Church and in the ancient warrior culture of pagan Ireland. This heroic, yet Christian, boy would become the prototype of Irish masculinity educated into a life of public service and citizenship in order to serve the future nation state.

St. Enda’s was a radical experiment in education, not least for its liberal and enlightened curriculum but also in its focus on child-centred learning. Many children from eminent nationalist families attended the school and most of the leaders of Irish Revivalism lectured at or visited St. Enda’s at some point between 1908 and 1916. Amongst its many admirers were W.B. Yeats, Douglas Hyde, Roger Casement, and Sir Robert Baden Powell, the founder of the English Boy Scouts movement. While Pearse was in favour of a liberal, Irish speaking education for all children, the focus of St. Enda’s was on helping to achieve a "brotherhood of young Irishmen" who would be "ready to spend themselves in the service of their country." The task of creating a modern Irish boy, versed in mythologies and traditions of the past, was achieved in part by "nationalizing" British and German imperialist ideologies on masculinity, history an education. This book explores how the cult of Irish nationalist boyhood at St. Enda’s was expressed through mythology, pageantry, theatre, Gaelic Games and Celticism.

Average customer rating:

ALL THE GREEN GOLD - An Irish Boyhood
Colm Luibheid
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GVVXSG

Average customer rating:

All the green gold: An Irish boyhood
Colm Luibheid
Manufacturer: Pall Mall P
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Europe | Travel | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0269027653

As It Was: Sin Mar a Bha : A Ulva Boyhood

Average customer rating:

As It Was: Sin Mar a Bha : A Ulva Boyhood
D. W. R. Mackenzie
Manufacturer: Birlinn Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Irish | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Family & Childhood | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Scotland | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Boyhood Memories of Plumstead, 1920-1928

Average customer rating:

Boyhood Memories of Plumstead, 1920-1928
Bert A. French
Manufacturer: Clare Corner Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Dreaming of Columbus : A Boyhood in the Bronx

Average customer rating:

A Brilliant Memoir
We are all dreamers
A Memoir that Reads like a Novel
Rambling Reminisces about a Childhood in the Bronx
Familiar Themes in Dreaming of Columbus

Dreaming of Columbus : A Boyhood in the Bronx
Michael Pearson
Manufacturer: Syracuse University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Irish | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Mid Atlantic | Regional U.S. | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Family & Childhood | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0815605617

Customer Reviews:

A Brilliant Memoir.......2006-07-27

A friend of mine from the Bronx told me about this book, and I'm glad she did. This if a beautifully written story that gets at the truth of both the time and the heart. The Bronx is a place that seems mythic and all too real to me and this writer keeps both of those images alive.

We are all dreamers.......2003-07-24

I loved this book. It gave a shape to Pearson's life and let me understand that there is a shape to all of our lives. It's just up to us to find the meaning that is there for us notice.

A Memoir that Reads like a Novel.......2003-01-25

For me Dreaming of Columbus read more like a novel than a memoir. I mean that as a compliment to the writer. The story had the feel of fiction to it, as if you could see inside the characters lives and enter the story for a while. I loved it.

Rambling Reminisces about a Childhood in the Bronx.......2002-12-30

Michael Pearson has the right idea, but the ideas that are gathered into the book are a little disjointed and fractured. If he could smooth out the stories so that blend one into the other, the entire book would read better.
On the positive note, Dreaming of Columbus would definitely stir memories of the neighborhood for those growing up in that part of New York. He does have some descriptive stories of people, places and landmarks in the book that are entertainingly delightful.
If you are a Bronx native, I would recommend this book so you can remember things you may never see again.

Familiar Themes in Dreaming of Columbus.......2002-06-17

Despite the images of sea voyages inspired by its title, Dreaming of Columbus is not the story of a young man spending his salad days in exotic, foreign settings. Instead, Michael Pearson takes the road less traveled and keeps his story closer to home. The reader looking for journeys will not be disappointed, however, in the imaginative way the Pearson uses literature to break away from the confines of the Bronx and the unpredictable, bourbon induced, violent outbursts produce by his father's rage to live. Although Pearson engages in excessive epigraph dropping, the means by which literature provides an avenue for escape adds a universal element to his narrative from which we call all learn something about the art of bridge building.

The edge of day; a boyhood in the west of England

Average customer rating:

Fantabulous!
A Window into Times Past.
Also known as "Cider with Rosie"

The edge of day; a boyhood in the west of England
Laurie Lee
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00005VR3H

Customer Reviews:

Fantabulous!.......2005-11-08

I loved this book. At first I didn't think I would be very interested because it takes place in the past but I became fascinated by the way people lived back then. It amazes me how simple everything was. I really liked how everything was written and described perfectly. I could picture everything that was happening.

A Window into Times Past........2004-02-19

I first read this book about thirty years ago. It delighted and amazed me then and does so even more now. It is beautifully written and drew me in right from the first words.

Here's how it starts: "I was set down from the carrier's cart at the age of three; and there with a sense of bewilderment and terror my life in the village began. The June grass, amongst which I stood, was taller than I was, and I wept. I had never been so close to grass before. It towered above me and all around me, each blade tattooed with tiger skins of sunlight. It was knife-edged, dark and a wicked green, thick as a forest and alive with grasshoppers that chirped and chattered and leapt through the air like monkeys."

A paragraph later the author says, "For the first time in my life I was out of sight of humans." Consider that for a moment. To me, at least, it signals a very different sort of childhood from mine, or any that I know of. I had spent considerable time "out of sight of humans" long before I was three - that's how most children are raised now.

To me, this is what was facinating about this book - that it shows a way of life, a way of being, that I could not even guess at otherwise. Laurie Lee's village had a social coherence that is gone. Today's familiar sense of individuality and independance is not there. And this despite the fact that the folks of Lee's village were far more individual, eccentric, and just plain flavorful than people are in our homogenized culture. Not that Lee speaks of this directly. Rather, in scene after scene, he carries his readers into it. The equally beautiful "Lost Country Life" tells a very similar story from an objective view, describing how people lived, their tools, their customs. But Lee tells it from the inside - the reader comes to feel what this sort of childhood was like.

This version is the American edition of "Cider with Rosie." You will also find some good reviews under that title.

Also known as "Cider with Rosie".......2003-01-07

I checked this book out of my public library thinking it was a collection of stories in addition to "Cider with Rosie". It is not.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books