Customer Reviews

Caravaggio: The Complete Works

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just returned from a 2 1/2 week trip to Italy during which time I visited Uffizi, Borghese, San Luigi dei Francesi, Santa Maria del Popolo, Pitti Palace, Pinoteca Capitolina, and the Scuderie dei Quirinale CARAVAGGIO exhibition. So I have personally viewed nearly half of Caravaggio's authenticated works within the past month. And, to confirm the writings of some of the other reviewers, many of the reproduction plates in this book are inaccurately dark. I was disappointed with the cave-like lighting provided at the Quirinale show, but even those tiny halogen bulbs illuminated more of the subtleties of M. Merisi's work than do the reproductions in this book, which was proudly announced as being full of new - and supposedly properly exposed - photographs.

One great mystery lies in the fact that where there are multiple representations of the same work, the brightness levels vary - sometimes greatly - from one photo to the next. In nearly all cases the detail plates (which are full-bleed) are brighter and more accurate than the full-size shots. The smaller photos displaying the Cantarelli Chapel at San Luigi more faithfully reproduce the colors of the St. Matthew trilogy than do the dedicated full-page plates. I have little technical knowledge of the printing process, but it seems to me that those who do this for a living (especially at this book's price-point!) would know how to calibrate their devices, publishing software and inks to produce a finished product of consistent tone and luminance.

A couple of other quibbles:

1. The book is divided into two major sections: The first, on heavy glossy stock, combines the more 'free-form' essays which put Caravaggio's paintings into context with his life, his contemporaries, and his influences, with the full-size and detail plates accompanied by smaller reproductions of mentioned works by other artists. But as you read, the plates run farther and farther ahead of the text, so the words on page 115 might describe a work reproduced on page 138. Considering the amount of blank space on some of the pages, the design team at Taschen might have considered a layout whereby the reader could view the plate and read the relevant text without sticking multiple fingers of both hands between the pages to hold his place. The second section, on a matte stock, contains the catalogue, which, while focusing more on provenance, still ends up containing significant redundancies with the essays.

2. While nearly all of the horizontally-oriented works are treated to spread-size reproductions (16" x 24" minus margins), all of the vertically-oriented works are displayed on single pages with margins (for example The Seven Acts Of Mercy is 8 5/8" x 13"). Since the size and weight of the book obviate the need for viewing it on a table rather than in the lap, a few larger representations of vertical works which required the rotation of the book would have been a nice addition.

FYI, there are three tri-fold full-bleed details: The Calling Of St Matthew, The Seven Acts Of Mercy, and the Borghese St Jerome Writing).

I await the delivery of a used copy of the Puglisi book, as well as the reissue of the Spike; perhaps between those three and my Quirinale exhibition catalogue I will acquire a complete set of Caravaggio reproductions of the highest quality.

The subtitle is actually The Complete Works rather than ...Paintings. Page count is 306, not 480.

In black boards with gold lettering, and a beautiful jacket of the head of Judith exemplifying the stunning dimensions of the masterpieces and details within.

The book opens with six spreads picturing six head details. The book is printed and sewed (in Italy) with state of the art tolerances and lies flat, but occasionally of course threads or a razor thin line is visible in the center of a spread spanned by an art piece.

CONTENTS

I Lombard beginnings 1571-1592 page 20
II The path to artistic autonomy 1592-1599 page 28
III The large religious works in Rome 1599-1606 page 94
IV The late oeuvre in Southern Italy: Naples-Malta-Sicily 1606-1610 page 184
Epilogue, reflections and refractions page 238
Catalogue of Paintings page 242
Bibliography page 300
Index page 304
Acknowledgements, Credits, Imprint page 306


All page stock is substantial, semiglossy up through page 242 for utterly convincing color of full and detail reproductions, entailing bleeds or white framing; from page 243 onward, uncoated paper that is a pleasure to the touch and takes the ink very well to reproduce all the pictures again in smaller size, say 3 by 5 inches, for reference as you read the detailed descriptions.

The Catalogue first presents Paintings 1-67, in chronological order, and comprising, in the opinion of the author, indubitably autograph works (as well as copies of them). Paintings 68-89 are accepted by some Caravaggio scholars but should be regarded as copies or imitations by other hands; this category includes also potentially autograph works whose appraisal is impaired, for example by their poor state of preservation (nor can absolute chronology be established).

The volume includes three foldouts, so you can enjoy a panoramic three-page view of a detail. Some paintings are also shown in their architectural settings. The works of some other artists are included in reduced format to contribute to the scholarly text, which is quite readable in double-column double-spaced format. You will want to lay this big book on a surface for comfortable investigation.

MY FOOTNOTES (the book avoids them)

This book reached me at the UPS Store in an overlarge box, like it was a 20 inch tv set, and stuffed with air bladders, but those UPS guys ripped into it at my request. The book itself is packed in a tight corrugated cardboard "attache case" with a pullup plastic handle, and is a bitch to open. The long ribbon attached to the book as place marker does leave an indentation on the page it touches during tight storage.

On the basis of the reviews critical of the reproduction quality of this book, I elected to avoid its purchase. Hoping for a good representation of Caravaggio's paintings I acquired the Skira catalog of the recent Rome exhibition. That book is much smaller in dimension and the articles are of varying quality. I subsequently happened to examine a friend's copy of this Taschen edition. While the colors of the reproductions in both books appeared similar, the size, layout and quality of the illustrations in the Taschen issue is vastly superior and far more satisfying. This book also is much more comprehensive in presenting Caravaggio's entire oeuvre and works of uncertain attribution.

I have now ordered the Taschen book which, despite its greater cost, is the best Caravaggio book I have encountered and is good value given the excellence of the printing. It is a while since I have had the good fortune to personally examine a Caravaggio painting and cannot guarantee the accuracy of the reproductions. What I did see has given enormous pleasure. While this is a book that one will want especially for the illustrations, the text is worthwhile and informative.

I recently saw all the Caravaggios in Rome, including some brought from other places for a special exhibit, and I can tell you that this gorgeous, beautifully printed book truly does justice to the paintings. It includes not only fold-out pages to show entire paintings without sacrificing too much to the smallness of the medium, but also full-page detail pictures showing just a small portion of the original painting at life-size. The accompanying commentary is excellent, and the author even includes reproductions of other artworks for comparison. If you are a Caravaggio fan, you will be thrilled with this book.

I was in Rome about two months ago carefully studying the Caravaggio's in the churches and museums as I am a huge fan of his work. When I learned that Taschen was creating the quintessential Caravaggio book I was very excited and couldn't wait to see and own it. Taschen almost always does such a terrrific job when it comes to reproducing images of artwork and I own a number of their books.

So coupled with the images of the work, fresh in my mind, and high expectations from Taschen, I was expecting the best. We'll, if all the images in the book were as gorgeous as the cover image of Judith the book would have been a 5++++ but in my estimation 2/3 of the reproductions are about 15 per cent or more too dark...especially the darks in the paintings, which are missing much of the reflected light, and as a result, make the paintings look too dense and heavy. Granted that Caravaggio is the Master of light and shadow....but there is still a sense of breathable air and a flow and elegance of light in his work that is missing here.

The look of the book is sumptuous and the detail shots numerous and large, but in my mind if you can't match the color and tone of artwork, what is the point?

I haven't returned my copy only because of the 1/3 of the prints which are truly great.

I'm sure it will be the artists and connoisseur's of Caravaggio's work that will see this.

Dean Fisher

Few would deny the objective of high-end advertizing is to persuade people that to maintain or improve their status they must buy expensive stuff they don't really need. If this appeal to one-upmanship is restricted to the purchase of designer perfumes and $400 handbags one need only shrug one's shoulders and say where's the harm in that?

But when similar tactics are applied to selling gargantuan art books there are those of us who have no choice but to ask what is going on here? How can it be so many people can be persuaded to pay $150 for an 18" tall, 10 lb. monograph containing hundreds of inaccurate reproductions of EVERY painting by an artist they've probably only vaguely heard about? One whose main claim to fame was a preference for plebian facial features and, as he grew older, overusing chiaroscuro effects to the point where his later religious paintings are so morbid the only adjective that applies is repulsive.

If this verdict offends those who also praised Abbeville's equally unacceptable Caravaggio opus I would hope they realize although Amazon generously allow everyone to express "opinions" those who live by the sword can also die by the sword. Any 5-Star review using words like "gorgeous, magnificent, beautiful, sumptuous, almost perfect, outstanding color, utterly convincing color, one of the best art books I've ever seen" about a monograph devoted to a painter who used less primary colours than any great artist who ever lived has to be taken with a grain of salt. Caravaggio might well be indignant too. Creating beauty was never his first priority.

But it's a much more serious matter when a reviewer misleads potential buyers about one huge flaw making this project an exercise in futility right from the word go. I quote - "occasionally a razor thin line or thread is visible in the center of a spread". Au contraire! To hold this huge book together Taschen had to use extra strong white threads. Hence every double-page black reproduction is lacerated by vertical white stripes. A huge insult to all those who trusted this famous publishing company would present them with "The Very Best of Caravaggio".

Regarding the issue of "Too Dark" 2 other reviewers have covered this subject perfectly. And I'm happy to confirm Taschen achieved a dubious "first" in the realm of innacurate reproductions. Their printing presses's enlarged details are a different colour to their full page reproductions - and their supposedly helpful 3" reference plates appear to come from an entirely different batch of photos.

The key painting I did want to see was Caravaggio's chef-d'oeuvre in the Uffizi - "Bacchus". With a traditional Renaissance colour spectrum I'd have thought Taschen couldn't possibly spoil this reproduction - but of course they did. Rather than go into details I'm uploading 2 "Bacchus's" from two 50-year old Italian books. Enabling those who own this 2010 opus to check-out some disturbing differences - and perhaps understand why publishing this baroque master's rather gloomy art at such an enormous scale came as an unpleasant shock for those of us who know many of his paintings "off by heart".

Thankfully disagreeing with those who are convinced otherwise does not present an Orwellian impasse. Having never thrown away any postcard or books since the 60's (thanks to Amazon's amazing technology) it's possible to upload indisputable proof as to where "the truth" lies regarding the limitations of modern printing presses. The colours may not be perfect but in the good old days reproductions never had large areas of black ink obscuring a painter's lighter vitally important details. Nor, except for a few very rich bibliophiles were books purposely designed to be so heavy and large they must be placed on a table to look at the contents. I'm still waiting for one review which explains why this was a good idea.

However, for all those who'd like to enjoy more of "the real Caravaggio" after a major search I did find one medium-size 2007 paperback with reasonably accurate reproductions. Published by Skira and sold on Amazon for $24.95. It's also well worth visiting Skira's website to view a slideshow of their new Caravaggio book coming out in September

This book is truly breathtaking, from the front detail to the massive fold out sections with rich and lavish colour. The quality of the paper used in this book is remarkable and worthy of its subject. I was very impressed with the attention to detail from start to finish. Of particualr note is the beautiful details which allow you to see small sections of a work at close range- they took my breath away!

My only criticism is that the book is so large and heavy that it makes for a cumbersome read. For example I like to get in bed to read but this book is a little impractical for such activity. In a way the large size is part of the charm however it is also difficult to follow corresponding information about the works as art works occur early in the book whereas the blurb about each piece follows much further along. This means you are constantly flicking betweeen pages to view the art and read the corresponding information about it.

Many of my frineds who know nothing about art or Carivaggio have commented on how magnificent this book is as it invites and beckons, even those who are only casually interested in the sublject, to take a closer look. Overall this book takes you on a really wonderful journey of discovery about the great artist's work.

This is the highest quality book I have seen. It is worth every penny I paid for it.

As a source on the histroy of Caravaggio, the man and the artist, I found this book to be quite brief but as good as most of the other literature I have read on the same subject (Caravaggio is rather an elusive subject at the best of times!), but as a source used to view his paintings, this is an excellent book. It contains detailed pictures of all his paintings which are wonderfully clear and beautifully taken. For anyone interested in Caravaggio's paintings and technique, this book is invaluable.

I just received my copy from Amazon, it came intact and well packaged. Caravaggio: The Complete Paintings is an impressive art book and is sure to please the eye. The transfers to paper are somewhat muted & grainy, but overall the pictures are exquisite. Overall, it captures the period very well. Highly recommended!