Caravaggio: A Novel [Hardcover]

Christopher Peachment (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 23, 2003

My sight was always good. But color now takes on even greater riches. I no longer need the bright blues and reds, which I did so delight in when I was young. I see a hundred times more beauty now in a dark brown, or the pale tints of quiet flesh. Or a ray of light across a fur or a beaten earth floor or a suit of black armor. Such colors do not distract the eye, but rather let it concentrate on my forte, the human face. There I will have my theater, there my drama, there my applause.

Peachment’s imagined Caravaggio, while still a child, overhears his parents discussing one of his sketches, and realizes he has a talent that sets him apart from the world. He leaves family and home forever to map out a solitary traveler’s life. Caravaggio became a revolutionary of his time, a rebellious and dangerous man to know, a man governed by his genius, his indiscriminate sexual appetite, and his murderous rage. He was sought far and wide in the late Renaissance world for his art, and there was a price on his head for at least one murder. This is Caravaggio’s confession, told in humorous, blasphemous, often brutal prose, which cleverly beguiles the reader into understanding the art that was so celebrated and the life that caused so much outrage.

Peachment’s Caravaggio is a gripping story of one man’s determination to grapple with the truth as he journeys through Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily, encounters lovers and enemies, endures madness, exile, and imprisonment, and faces a final showdown with the Vatican Secret Service. His account is poignant and spirited. It is an adventurous and thoroughly enthralling insight into the mind of a creative genius and the violent world that inspired his paintings.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Caravaggio was one of the most audacious painters of the Renaissance; his dark, brooding canvases, with their violent portrayals of biblical themes, are unsettling even today. In this first novel, Peachment, a British writer with a background in theater and journalism, argues that Caravaggio the man was also audacious: a foul-mouthed hedonist with unrestrained sexual appetites. Claustrophobic and bloody, the novel presents a keen portrait of a bawdy, rage-filled man whose talent flourished despite the dangerous circumstances of his life. Peachment eschews background historical detail to focus on brutal executions, murders and sexual escapades, depicted in the raw. The artist narrates events with unflinching immediacy; typical chapters begin with lines like "They burned Bruno, and I watched it" or "I killed him on a Sunday afternoon late into May." Given Peachment's emphasis, any insight into Caravaggio's art or "painterly" description in creating the setting is secondary to the exploration of the artist's personality. The novel is meant to be read as Caravaggio's confession on the verge of death, and the final entries describe his murder by agents of the Vatican. Written in blunt and direct prose, the novel brings the artist to life with the brio of an adventure story. The result is a harrowing, engrossing read.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A Frolickinig and rampaging debut about a larger-than-life painter.... [A] wild tour of mid-millennium debauchery."--Kirkis Reviews (March 1, 2003)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (May 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312314485
• ISBN-13: 978-0312314484
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,292,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Caravaggio in the Raw, September 28, 2003

By 

Michael Gunther (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Caravaggio: A Novel (Hardcover)

Caravaggio was in many ways a "raw" human being, and Peachment's novel of the painter's life reflects this aspect of his subject: if this novel were a movie, it would be rated "X" for language, sex, and violence. The narrator of the novel is Caravaggio himself, who retells his life - or rather, I must say, Peachment's fantasy of his life - in an extended address to the reader. Mystery, rage, painting, murder, alienation, and debauchery are all grist for the novelist's mill. Baudelaire would have loved it.

Peachment is a new novelist, but an experienced arts writer, and we should not underestimate him. In the course of his narrative, the author describes every one of Caravaggio's known paintings, and usually in a way which I found interesting and even illuminating. He emphasizes always the circumstantial and concrete, rather than the "aesthetic," aspects of the works; indeed, the most important chapter of this book describes an incident in which the painter destroys one of his canvases, in rage against the intellectuals and aesthetes who love his art for all the wrong reasons. It's a valuable perspective, and one which we all can learn from.

On the other hand: Peachment's writing is episodic, with awkward transitions between short chapters; there is repetition, ranting and raving, and pure fantasy; it seems a very one-sided portrait, even for a novelist, of Caravaggio the artist and the man. On the whole, while I appreciated what Peachment was trying to do, I felt somewhat distanced from the book, even as I was turning its pages. I'm glad that I read it, and feel that it had some valuable insights to offer, but somehow I could not love it; perhaps those who knew Caravaggio, in his lifetime, felt the same way!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bulldozing Art History, May 26, 2005

By 

K. L. Vesey "kvz" (UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Caravaggio: A Novel (Hardcover)

I picked this book up in an art museum gift shop during a recent exhibit on Caravaggio. I finally abandoned the book halfway through because of small inaccuracies that to me became extremely irritating. I'm all for a little revisionist history and poetic license in fiction, but seeing as the story is supposed to be told by Caravaggio himself, certain passages did not ring true. For example, indicating that a neighborhood in Malta looked like it had been "bulldozed" (in 1600?-- the current sense of a machine for clearing or leveling came into usage around 1930), the use of the pejorative "frog" for Frenchmen (probably in use since 1850), and his account of entering Rome, "I [Caravaggio] entered Rome from the north, through serious bandit country and starving farms, and then past Cinecitta, where I later used to go and join Federico, and help him indulge his taste for good life..." Cinecitta (literally "cinema city") was established in 1937 to promote the Italian film industry. References to Federico (Fellini) and the "good life" = La Dolce Vita might be clever from the author's viewpoint, but it destroyed credibility with this reader who believes that the language in a period novel should ring true (even though admittedly Caravaggio was not anglophone) and historical accuracy should be respected. I recommend you find another account of Caravaggio's fascinating life.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Addictive Read, January 22, 2009

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G. Dhalla - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Caravaggio: A Novel (Hardcover)

Unputdownable! A tasty read that updates the life of the notorious painter with modern vernacular and without compromising narrative. Had this book for years but just got around to reading it. What a delicious surprise.