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Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles – A Biography of the Revolutionary Italian Artist Who Painted Ordinary People
“Matching gorgeous prose to gorgeous artworks, Prose responds to each image as a moment of theatrical revelation, sensual or spiritual, and frequently both.” —
Boston Sunday Globe
In Caravaggio, New York Times bestselling author Francine Prose offers an enthralling account of the life and work of one of the greatest painters of all time. 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, made him an artist who speaks across the centuries to modern day.
Called “racy, intensely imagined, and highly readable” by the New York Times Book Review, Caravaggio includes eight pages of color illustrations, and is sure to appeal to art enthusiasts interested in one of history’s true innovators. Caravaggio is part of the “Eminent Lives” series from HarperCollins, a selection of biographies by distinguished authors on canonical figures.
In Caravaggio, New York Times bestselling author Francine Prose offers an enthralling account of the life and work of one of the greatest painters of all time. 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, made him an artist who speaks across the centuries to modern day.
Called “racy, intensely imagined, and highly readable” by the New York Times Book Review, Caravaggio includes eight pages of color illustrations, and is sure to appeal to art enthusiasts interested in one of history’s true innovators. Caravaggio is part of the “Eminent Lives” series from HarperCollins, a selection of biographies by distinguished authors on canonical figures.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published October 4, 2005
51 people are currently reading
758 people want to read
About the author
Francine Prose
154 books865 followersFrancine Prose is the author of twenty works of fiction. Her novel A Changed Man won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and Blue Angel was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her most recent works of nonfiction include the highly acclaimed Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, and the New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, a Director's Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, Prose is a former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her most recent book is Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932. She lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
November 21, 2019
As I wrote a review on a Caravaggio biography before, I hope it is not considered a subterfuge to refer to that review. See Andrew Graham-Dixon's extensive biography titled 'Caravaggio, a Life Sacred and Profane'. For anyone who is interested, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will have an exhibition of Caravaggio and Bernini in the spring of 2020.
August 21, 2014
Overflowing in both talent and self-regard, Caravaggio (1571-1610) remains an enigma. He left behind no diaries or letters to convey his thoughts. Instead, contemporaries chose to chronicle his quarrels, profligate drinking and gambling, violent altercations and hurried escapes from vengeful factions.
This book is a personalized view of the artist's works. While Caravaggio was a highly successful painter of the religious subjects in demand at the time, he assumes a modern cast. His models were laborers, vagabonds, con men and whores — a far cry from inserting the portraits of rich patrons in the guise of faithful worshipers. His compositions have an almost photographic quality in that he is interested in capturing a particular frame of action, rather than a symbolic pose staged for the benefit of the viewer. Despite the subject matter, the viewpoint is resolutely secular. The author notes that he is almost repudiating religious convention. His paintings force the viewer to deal with a harshly graphic present. The unflinching focus is on life's brevity, not a glorious eternity. With her writing, the author attempts to recreate through prose the dramatic vitality of Caravaggio's paintings. Her effort is successful in that it encourages the reader to form a personal relationship of his own with Caravaggio.
A great deal of attention is focused on Caravaggio's early still life paintings. Basket of Fruit (http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h...), ca. 1599, depicts insect-chewed leaves, a worm-eaten apple, the impression of over-ripe fruit. Some have speculated the painting represents the brevity and inevitable decay of life. Others imagine it is Caravaggio deriding his earlier apprenticeship where he was tasked with painting fruits and flowers. The author calls attention to the exploitation of design disguised as reality in the diagonal rise of the vine. Yet, the focus in this painting seems to be those too-perfect grapes pushing out from the foreground. In contrast, they glisten and seem about to burst with their promise of sweet, intoxicating delight.
Only a small handful of the paintings are reproduced in this book. Readers are warned that they will need to search online for the other paintings the author discusses. A second omission is that the historical context that make Caravaggio's work so visionary is only touched upon. The author contrasts Caravaggio with a successful contemporary, Giuseppi Cesari, but none of Cesari's works are included in the book for visual comparison. (See the following website for examples online. https://www.google.com/search?q=cesar...). Instead, the author relies on words to suggest the contrast. “If Caravaggio's paintings are brilliant, nearly photographic representations of miracles in progress, Cesari's frescoes more often evoke the illustrations in Sunday school textbooks. Indeed, Cesari is one of the many of Caravaggio's contemporaries whose work reminds us of what it is easy to forget or overlook — that is, how revolutionary Caravaggio was, how much he changed and rejected: the baby-blue heavens, the pillowy clouds, the airy ascensions accompanied by flocks of pigeonlike cherubs and choirs of attractive angels.” (p.29) Perhaps that is all that's needed. The characterization of “pigeonlike” will change the reader's view of Caravaggio's Mannerist predecessors forever.
This is part of the publisher's “Eminent Lives” series, an interesting approach to biography. Accomplished authors rather than historians or scholars are enlisted to write accessible, stylistically distinctive biographical sketches of historic figures. The desire to escape the limits of an academic treatment is reflected in the lack of an index. On one hand, the choice of Caravaggio as a subject is odd, since so little is actually known about his life. On the other hand, it is eloquent in bringing Caravaggio to life through his art.
This book is a personalized view of the artist's works. While Caravaggio was a highly successful painter of the religious subjects in demand at the time, he assumes a modern cast. His models were laborers, vagabonds, con men and whores — a far cry from inserting the portraits of rich patrons in the guise of faithful worshipers. His compositions have an almost photographic quality in that he is interested in capturing a particular frame of action, rather than a symbolic pose staged for the benefit of the viewer. Despite the subject matter, the viewpoint is resolutely secular. The author notes that he is almost repudiating religious convention. His paintings force the viewer to deal with a harshly graphic present. The unflinching focus is on life's brevity, not a glorious eternity. With her writing, the author attempts to recreate through prose the dramatic vitality of Caravaggio's paintings. Her effort is successful in that it encourages the reader to form a personal relationship of his own with Caravaggio.
A great deal of attention is focused on Caravaggio's early still life paintings. Basket of Fruit (http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h...), ca. 1599, depicts insect-chewed leaves, a worm-eaten apple, the impression of over-ripe fruit. Some have speculated the painting represents the brevity and inevitable decay of life. Others imagine it is Caravaggio deriding his earlier apprenticeship where he was tasked with painting fruits and flowers. The author calls attention to the exploitation of design disguised as reality in the diagonal rise of the vine. Yet, the focus in this painting seems to be those too-perfect grapes pushing out from the foreground. In contrast, they glisten and seem about to burst with their promise of sweet, intoxicating delight.
Only a small handful of the paintings are reproduced in this book. Readers are warned that they will need to search online for the other paintings the author discusses. A second omission is that the historical context that make Caravaggio's work so visionary is only touched upon. The author contrasts Caravaggio with a successful contemporary, Giuseppi Cesari, but none of Cesari's works are included in the book for visual comparison. (See the following website for examples online. https://www.google.com/search?q=cesar...). Instead, the author relies on words to suggest the contrast. “If Caravaggio's paintings are brilliant, nearly photographic representations of miracles in progress, Cesari's frescoes more often evoke the illustrations in Sunday school textbooks. Indeed, Cesari is one of the many of Caravaggio's contemporaries whose work reminds us of what it is easy to forget or overlook — that is, how revolutionary Caravaggio was, how much he changed and rejected: the baby-blue heavens, the pillowy clouds, the airy ascensions accompanied by flocks of pigeonlike cherubs and choirs of attractive angels.” (p.29) Perhaps that is all that's needed. The characterization of “pigeonlike” will change the reader's view of Caravaggio's Mannerist predecessors forever.
This is part of the publisher's “Eminent Lives” series, an interesting approach to biography. Accomplished authors rather than historians or scholars are enlisted to write accessible, stylistically distinctive biographical sketches of historic figures. The desire to escape the limits of an academic treatment is reflected in the lack of an index. On one hand, the choice of Caravaggio as a subject is odd, since so little is actually known about his life. On the other hand, it is eloquent in bringing Caravaggio to life through his art.
October 5, 2022
I knew little about Caravaggio before beginning this short overview of his life and works and now wish to read more about this talented and troubled man. I think this book achieves what it set out to do: while not excusing Caravaggio’s erratic and sometimes furious behavior, it ties his life with his works of art in a way that, while complete, makes the reader want to know even more. Well done — Five Stars.
December 12, 2024
The Sinner-Saint
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
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
February 23, 2017
It's always fun to dig into the life of someone you barely know anything about and whose work you found unimpressive until you learned the nitty-gritty of their awesome, weird life.
Caravaggio, gay asshole criminal--and painter--scourge of the early 17th century Italian art scene for his iconoclastic, supreme works, the guy who fought duels, threw vegetables at waiters, and spent a lot of his later career wanted for murder over a tennis match--this is a supreme guy. And once you learn what a violent, unsettling larger-than-life beast he was, you suddenly learn to love his art. The filth under the nails of the saints, the rotting fruit, the whores he used as models--Caravaggio didn't give a hoot about convention and he was unjustly excoriated for it well up until this century.
This work in particular is sufficient, if brief (and sorely lacking in illustrations--it has a handful), and ends too abruptly, but it's a nice jumping-off point.
Caravaggio, gay asshole criminal--and painter--scourge of the early 17th century Italian art scene for his iconoclastic, supreme works, the guy who fought duels, threw vegetables at waiters, and spent a lot of his later career wanted for murder over a tennis match--this is a supreme guy. And once you learn what a violent, unsettling larger-than-life beast he was, you suddenly learn to love his art. The filth under the nails of the saints, the rotting fruit, the whores he used as models--Caravaggio didn't give a hoot about convention and he was unjustly excoriated for it well up until this century.
This work in particular is sufficient, if brief (and sorely lacking in illustrations--it has a handful), and ends too abruptly, but it's a nice jumping-off point.
March 28, 2017
Good descriptions and analysis of Caravaggio's painting.
April 2, 2017
This was a great book, very well written. I particularly enjoyed Prose's blatant recognition of how little we know about Caravaggio's life and her explanations and passionate dissection of the pieces. I would highly suggest this book to anyone interested in Caravaggio or art history in general. The length (150 pages) makes it easily approachable and it is a great overview of the artist.
One suggestion I have to readers though is to have a computer or a book of Caravaggio's paintings nearby as you read. There are not many paintings pictured in the book, and Prose's descriptions of his works are much more insightful and enjoyable with a reference image at hand.
One suggestion I have to readers though is to have a computer or a book of Caravaggio's paintings nearby as you read. There are not many paintings pictured in the book, and Prose's descriptions of his works are much more insightful and enjoyable with a reference image at hand.
August 14, 2023
It felt fairly colorless and cursory, and I didn't understand the organizational scheme. Also the author's detailed discussions of the more pedophilic elements of Caravaggio's paintings felt creepily and unnecessarily detailed.
April 10, 2020
What would happen if biographies stuck to the facts? This short book in the Eminent Lives series would become an article. Two pages include four instances of "perhaps" plus: "There is nothing, not one document or report ...,:" "It's possible ...," "It's also conceivable ...," "But why ...."
June 26, 2025
The best thing about this book, for me, was its approachable length.
June 6, 2022
Caravaggio was a fascinating and complicated artist and this brief biography flowed well as it told his story. There is a lot of information packed in a digestible number of pages! I would look for other biographies in this series as a good way to get a solid picture of a historical figure without wading through hundreds of details.
June 10, 2014
Part of the Harper Collins Eminent Lives series of short biographies that matches contemporary writers with specific subjects, Caravaggio is an informative and engaging read, presenting the art and life of the controversial painter who died at 39 but lived a tragically full life, creating masterpieces and sparking conflicts, often violent, with equal frequency.
Caravaggio painted from life, drafting friends, neighbors, local peasants and prostitutes, male and female, to be his models. His religious portraits and scenes were earthy and truer to life than the sanctified traditional renderings by artists from the middle ages through the renaissance. The Holy Family and early saints were not wealthy, privileged members of northern European nobility. They were poor and struggling men and women. Caravaggio’s paintings were dark, with limited light and many shadows. They showed individuals with rough hands, lined faces, dirt beneath their fingernails. According to Prose, by emphasizing the ordinariness of circumstance in the depictions Caravaggio underscores the miraculous. I am not sure if I fully agree with this very interesting observaton, though I still admire the result, and wonder instead if the troubled Caravaggio wasn’t actually questioning the presence of the divine in our lives in a grim and violent world.
There is not a lot of information available on the painter’s life; a couple of his rivals wrote histories of contemporary painters and included Caravaggio in them, and his legal entanglements, including a murder charge, not only kept him on the run but provided the limited primary source documentation of his life (arrest records and court transcripts). Caravaggio, it is beyond dispute, was in his life quick of temper, self-destructive, fond of the underworld of Milan, Rome, Naples, and an artist of genius. His was a chaotic life and Prose presents it well, with respect for his art and sympathy for his life and its uncertain motives.
Caravaggio painted from life, drafting friends, neighbors, local peasants and prostitutes, male and female, to be his models. His religious portraits and scenes were earthy and truer to life than the sanctified traditional renderings by artists from the middle ages through the renaissance. The Holy Family and early saints were not wealthy, privileged members of northern European nobility. They were poor and struggling men and women. Caravaggio’s paintings were dark, with limited light and many shadows. They showed individuals with rough hands, lined faces, dirt beneath their fingernails. According to Prose, by emphasizing the ordinariness of circumstance in the depictions Caravaggio underscores the miraculous. I am not sure if I fully agree with this very interesting observaton, though I still admire the result, and wonder instead if the troubled Caravaggio wasn’t actually questioning the presence of the divine in our lives in a grim and violent world.
There is not a lot of information available on the painter’s life; a couple of his rivals wrote histories of contemporary painters and included Caravaggio in them, and his legal entanglements, including a murder charge, not only kept him on the run but provided the limited primary source documentation of his life (arrest records and court transcripts). Caravaggio, it is beyond dispute, was in his life quick of temper, self-destructive, fond of the underworld of Milan, Rome, Naples, and an artist of genius. His was a chaotic life and Prose presents it well, with respect for his art and sympathy for his life and its uncertain motives.
June 14, 2025
Update to the update: I saw the Caravaggios. They were extraordinary.
2024 update: Re-read this in preparation for an upcoming trip to Rome, where I plan to see my first real-life Caravaggios! Still enjoyed the book immensely.
——
As a crash course on the life of a painter, it's hard to imagine one more entertaining and informative than this. Of course, it helps that Caravaggio had one of the most sensational lives of any major artist. When he wasn't defying the aesthetic conventions of his time in furious creative outbursts, he was swaggering around Rome with a sword on his hip, threatening, cursing, and assaulting the populace. The majority of the book discusses his art, punctuated by key biographical episodes, which, this being Caravaggio, tend to be fights, court proceedings, prison breaks, and gambling imbroglios.
Francine Prose is a storyteller, and does a wonderful job of interpreting the events of his life, particularly given that the sources she's working with tend to be either contradictory or non-existent. She has a good eye for an insult, too, and jabs Caravaggio's contemporaries, especially Baglione. I'm not an art scholar, but her readings of his paintings were convincing enough for me. Even if I don't universally agree with her conclusions, I can appreciate the refined eye she brings to the task.
At some point I'll dig into some of the more substantive biographies on Caravaggio, but as a primer I really couldn't ask for anything more.
2024 update: Re-read this in preparation for an upcoming trip to Rome, where I plan to see my first real-life Caravaggios! Still enjoyed the book immensely.
——
As a crash course on the life of a painter, it's hard to imagine one more entertaining and informative than this. Of course, it helps that Caravaggio had one of the most sensational lives of any major artist. When he wasn't defying the aesthetic conventions of his time in furious creative outbursts, he was swaggering around Rome with a sword on his hip, threatening, cursing, and assaulting the populace. The majority of the book discusses his art, punctuated by key biographical episodes, which, this being Caravaggio, tend to be fights, court proceedings, prison breaks, and gambling imbroglios.
Francine Prose is a storyteller, and does a wonderful job of interpreting the events of his life, particularly given that the sources she's working with tend to be either contradictory or non-existent. She has a good eye for an insult, too, and jabs Caravaggio's contemporaries, especially Baglione. I'm not an art scholar, but her readings of his paintings were convincing enough for me. Even if I don't universally agree with her conclusions, I can appreciate the refined eye she brings to the task.
At some point I'll dig into some of the more substantive biographies on Caravaggio, but as a primer I really couldn't ask for anything more.
April 28, 2020
An unexpected gem. In preparation for an upcoming trip to Italy, I wanted to learn some art history. I was familiar with Caravaggio's name and had heard he was supposed to have been quite a character, so I took a chance when I saw this book on the shelves. What a reward. Indeed, he was quite a character. But the book is way more than just a biography. It really explains what his body of work was about, as well as descriptions of many of his individual works. In addition, Prose is primarily a fiction writer, so this book had a lively gait - it was no dry book about art history or some dumb painter.
January 7, 2012
excellently written, just wish I had the paintings in front of me for context.
May 16, 2019
Caravaggio is, at this point, my favorite painter. I love his works! In The Met, I spent good 30 minutes starring at the Denial of St.Peter. I think all major questions of human being, the answers are found at the moments which undoubdfullt divide the life to two parts - before and after, and these very moments are the subject of Caravaggios works. They could not leave you indifferent to what's happening. And if you know who's behind these paintings, their effect on you becomes even more profound. For example I did not know that Caravaggio left so many cameos on his paintings, and how many we, after the hundreds of years passed, can guess about him and his personality just looking on them.
The book of Fransine Prose is well written, easy read, and helps to connect the dots between the paintings, their creator, and the time he lived at. Great final paragraph which I want to quote - "All these centuries later, the sense of connection, of communication—of communion—that we feel with the long-dead painter seems almost vertiginously direct and profound. Having spent his brief, tragic, and turbulent life painting miracles, he managed, in the process, to create one—the miracle of art, the miracle of the way in which some paint, a few brushes, a square of canvas, together with that most essential ingredient, genius, can produce something stronger than time and age, more powerful than death." , summarises Caravaggio's life and art.
The book of Fransine Prose is well written, easy read, and helps to connect the dots between the paintings, their creator, and the time he lived at. Great final paragraph which I want to quote - "All these centuries later, the sense of connection, of communication—of communion—that we feel with the long-dead painter seems almost vertiginously direct and profound. Having spent his brief, tragic, and turbulent life painting miracles, he managed, in the process, to create one—the miracle of art, the miracle of the way in which some paint, a few brushes, a square of canvas, together with that most essential ingredient, genius, can produce something stronger than time and age, more powerful than death." , summarises Caravaggio's life and art.
September 23, 2024
A slender volume, part of the "Eminent Lives" series. A good, short overview of the life and work of the artist, Caravaggio. While the book falls short in illustrations of the major work, and is dated by recently found documentation on verified work by Caravaggio, including aspects of his troubled life, which you will find in more current biographies.
I decided to undertake a major research into this artist's life. Most of his surviving art is to be found in Italy, sometimes in some dark (hard to see the work) and obscure places. I was surprised to learn that many major museums in America lack his work. The only two that I know of are located in Denver and Cleveland (one painting each.) There is also very little in France or England. Two known paintings were destroyed during WWII, and some was stolen and remains unknown in terms of ownership and locale.
The author does not sit in judgment on the artist's life nor behavior, sexual preferences or possible mental health issues. She focuses mainly on the work created at varied points in his life starting with his early apprencticeships into his last work with religious overtones, seen in a realistic manner (dirty feet on Christ) and the play of light piercing the dark.
Most of what is written about Caravaggio is in Italian. I have four more books to read to have a well-rounded understanding: two biographies and two art analyses.
I decided to undertake a major research into this artist's life. Most of his surviving art is to be found in Italy, sometimes in some dark (hard to see the work) and obscure places. I was surprised to learn that many major museums in America lack his work. The only two that I know of are located in Denver and Cleveland (one painting each.) There is also very little in France or England. Two known paintings were destroyed during WWII, and some was stolen and remains unknown in terms of ownership and locale.
The author does not sit in judgment on the artist's life nor behavior, sexual preferences or possible mental health issues. She focuses mainly on the work created at varied points in his life starting with his early apprencticeships into his last work with religious overtones, seen in a realistic manner (dirty feet on Christ) and the play of light piercing the dark.
Most of what is written about Caravaggio is in Italian. I have four more books to read to have a well-rounded understanding: two biographies and two art analyses.
November 30, 2022
I am glad to have picked up this short book on a whim at a bookshop in Lexington, Virginia. Francine Prose pieces together the mysterious and consequential life of the great Italian painter, and she does so through beautiful prose, careful research and and keen inferences drawn from the artist’s magnificent collection of paintings. Her descriptions of Caravaggio’s works, especially the paintings of St. Matthew in the Contarelli Chapel, The Death of the Virgin and The Seven Acts of Mercy, go well beyond what the paintings connote. The descriptions reveal what Caravaggio was likely thinking about, seeing and experiencing in his own life at the time. This book reads like a novel, aided greatly by the artist’s irascibility often punctuated by vengeance, violence and murder, as well as by his thirst for acceptance and his desire to break the mold of idealistic religious works of art. It is unfortunate the book does not contain more photos of the painter’s works. Have another reference (or your iPhone) handy to check out some of Caravaggio’s finest while reading about them. This book will captivate and inspire art lovers and historians of all levels alike.
January 21, 2019
The combination of Francine prose and art history is stunning in this short, beautiful work about one if Italy's most interesting painters. Prose so lovingly recreates Caravaggio's masterpieces in words that there is no question that she is captivated by his art and only wants to increase the joy the reader gets from viewing them by pointing out the many subtleties and details that someone who had not researched him for a book might miss. Furthermore, she peers deeply into the scenes and faces of Caravaggio's work to try to glean from them information about the famously elusive artist and what he was trying to achieve, how his art mimicked his life, and what messages he sends down through the ages for us to decipher.
It's refreshing that Prose does not veer delicately or politely away from the sexuality depicted in Caravaggio's paintings. She meets it head-on, embracing it and even sometimes championing it in favor of the artist's appreciation of beauty, commentary on the times, reflections about morality, or simply his wit.
It's refreshing that Prose does not veer delicately or politely away from the sexuality depicted in Caravaggio's paintings. She meets it head-on, embracing it and even sometimes championing it in favor of the artist's appreciation of beauty, commentary on the times, reflections about morality, or simply his wit.
December 7, 2023
This little biography of Caravaggio didn't provide me with any new facts about his life and work, rather, and because it was so well written, it elucidated why many viewers have an emotional bond to the painter's work.
I'm so glad I picked this up as it introduced me to Francine Prose. Without a beat I bought two of her works of fiction. If her ability to describe human emotion and how, that which we come in contact with moves us, her novels will be just as enjoyable as this biography.
For anyone interested in an introduction to one of the greatest painters who ever lived Prose is the place to start.
I'm so glad I picked this up as it introduced me to Francine Prose. Without a beat I bought two of her works of fiction. If her ability to describe human emotion and how, that which we come in contact with moves us, her novels will be just as enjoyable as this biography.
For anyone interested in an introduction to one of the greatest painters who ever lived Prose is the place to start.
August 27, 2018
Very interesting and entertaining. I do wish there had been pictures of the paintings included in the text. As it was, I read the book with my tablet at hand so I could look the paintings up as they were discussed.
October 13, 2019
Short biography and personal portrait with moving interpretations of many of his greatest paintings as well as a revealing and fascinating picture of early 17th century Rome, Naples and Malta. Have your iPad on hand to search up the artist’s works and to compare them to those of his rivals.
July 11, 2022
This was a great biography of a painter I knew very little about going into the story. I only wish they had given more details about some of the darker parts of his life instead of just quickly skimming over them.
January 22, 2024
This deserves 2 stars perhaps 3 simply because it is about Caravaggio. It is interesting because Caravaggio is interesting. The writing style is poor and repetitive, the author's views on criminality and social deviancy misrepresent the passion of artistic genius.
February 12, 2025
Great subject and story, written by a talented author with an unfortunate presumption in language — dozens of tropes like ‘we are forced to imagine’ (no, we aren’t) and put downs of previous commentators (along lines of ‘it’s surprising how few previous scholars have noted…). Where was the editor?
April 18, 2025
I wanted to learn more about Caravaggio for myself (not a book for youth) as I study his art with my kids this term. This book sufficiently illuminated his genius mind and pugnacious tendencies. I was at times confused about the timeline the author kept and felt certain portions underwhelming.
June 24, 2018
I really enjoyed this interesting and accessible biography!
December 25, 2019
Great biographical overview of Caravaggio
I found this book to be well written and very engaging, giving me an overview of Caravaggio’s life and work.
I found this book to be well written and very engaging, giving me an overview of Caravaggio’s life and work.
December 1, 2020
She does insightful critiques of Carvaggio's paintings, but it gets a little boring at times.
July 15, 2021
Caravaggio is one of my favorite artists, and Francine did an excellent job discussing his paintings and writing about his tragic and turbulent life.
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