Customer Reviews

M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I picked up this book after reading Desmond Seward's 'Caravaggio: A Passionate Life'. As I stated in my review of that book I had no prior knowledge of this artist and it was the beautiful colour plates that initially attracted me to the book. Peter Robb's account of the life of Caravaggio is a much larger book, over 560 pages with numerous B&W and exquisite colour plates. The story covers all aspects of Michelangelo Merisi's (M) life and the author attempts to answer the questions about this artist's dark life. Peter Robb provided an insight into the politics, art and people of the period which I found very interesting and put much of M's life in perspective. I found that the story flowed along faultlessly and it was a joy to read and to learn about the paintings produced by M during his life. I did find one aspect of the book a little annoying. The author made mention or reference to a number of Caravaggio's paintings but did not provide any plates to illustrate these pictures. In the end I bought a small D&K art book which I used to cross-reference all of the artist pictures when mentioned in the narrative. Other than that I have no complaints of this beautifully presented book and I am sure that anybody who wants to learn more about this extraordinary man will certainly enjoy this book.

"There was art before him and art after him, and they were not the same." - Robert Hughes

It is hard to understand the recent enthusiasm for Peter Robb's "M", a book whose approach to the painter [M]ichelangelo da Caravaggio, as one reviewer has noted, is "unashamedly populist" and "disreputable." I am frankly puzzled that Amazon readers and professional reviewers seem unfazed by the liberties Robb has taken with historical material in this 570-page tabloid with a Fritz Lang title. Confusing fact and fiction in historical biography is simply not commendable--even if it is done with "passion and panache." Inventing central facts in a subject's life, as Robb does here, goes way beyond even the dubious license of Edmund Morris in his biography of Ronald Reagan. There is scant historical evidence to support the description of a love relationship between Caravaggio and Francesco (Cecco) Boneri, to which Robb dedicates dozens of fictional pages. Nor is there anything in the record to justify Robb's Hollywood ending that Caravaggio was murdered by the Knights of Malta. Robb's vulgarization of Caravaggio's works and the people he associated with is mere sensationalism and detracts from the few interesting observations the author provides about the artist's style and social context. Given that several excellent books on Caravaggio have appeared in the last few years, especially those by Catherine Puglisi and Helen Langdon, the New York Times and other reviewers have done a real disservice to the public by giving such prominence to one of the worst.

David M. Stone, Associate Professor, Italian Baroque Art, University of Delaware

I would have given this book 5 stars without a moment's hesitation but for one issue. The Author goes into very detailed analysis on 83 paintings. The color plates are limited to 8, and then there are 20 black and white faces equally divided between, Caravaggio, and 4 of his models, Mario, Cecco, Fillide, and Lena. If you are very well schooled in this man's work this may not be an issue. However I, like one other reviewer went out and bought a book so that I could see what the Author was talking about. This is a great read, but as a major work, or definitive work, it is incomplete.

I also have read Helen Langdon's book, "Caravaggio A Life", which was wonderful, and Desmond Seward's, Carravaggio A Passionate Life", which is third amongst these three.

For so famous an individual, it is amazing what an enigma he has remained to history. Without his passion that kept him in touch, and in trouble with the police and a variety of individuals, including, Cardinals, Popes, The Knights Of Malta, to name a few, his already vague personal history would be a stretch to document.

There has been some criticism of the Author's extensive expansion upon what some consider very limited evidence. I really feel this is a matter of degree. His entire life history is still being revised, as are the paintings that are attributed to him. According to this Author he signed one painting in his career.

In fairness to the Author he goes on at length at the beginning that this is "his hypothesis", he never presents his opinions as being beyond reproach. He also rightfully acknowledges that what we know of this man continues to expand and to change. The Author's ending of Caravaggio's life is also called, "pure hypothesis". I found it intriguing, but I have read other possibilities that are also not without merit. Based upon his conduct throughout his life, and the extremely powerful enemies he made, the Author's "hypothesis" is a reasonable one. This does not mean it is the definitive one, and we probably never will know, as the last 500 years has not solved the issue.

Overall this is a solid work, and while the Author does interpret he makes it clear when he is making a "hypothesis", and I found them intriguing.

A recommended book, that also comes with a strong recomendation to have a visual collection of his work as a reference aid, as it will add immeasurably to your reading enjoyment.

At the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century, life in Rome was a pretty chancy business, especially if you were an artist without powerful support. Or if you were an artist who was pushing the boundaries and showing up your contemporaries. Carravagio, or Michelangelo Merisi was such an artist. Peter Robb has used every bit of the available evidence and M's own work to create a biography that reads like a thriller, written in a quick contemporary style, which makes the reader realise how difficult it must have been to please all the powers in the Rome of the day. In your face describes both Peter Robb's style and M's life. The reader is asked to share the writer's excitement and enthusiasm in a book which is a dialogue between writer and reader. The paintings are wonderful, the story is exciting. A great read.

Robb's attempt to give insight in the life and times of the painter now known as Caravaggio yields a remarkable book. The author is the first to concede that hard data about the painter's life are flimsy at best, so a lot of research went into digging up information about contemporaries of M (patrons, powerbrokers, friends, other painters, ...). This led to a book that paints a very lively picture of late 16th and early 17th century Italy, but somehow fails to bring the central character really to life. Robb tries to correct Caravaggio's image of an unbalanced hothead - focusing on his trailblazer role in the search of a new pictural language that continuously clashed with the stifling dogmas of the Catholic Church - but is certainly not fully succesful in this respect : after reading this book one remains with the feeling that Caravaggio was a man hellbent on self-destruction. His violent temper, arrogance, pedophile inclinations and seemingly total lack of social graces made sure that - although at some point he was recognized as the most talented painter of his time - he could never secure the mecenate of the pope and that his careerpath had all the characteristics of a wild rollercoaster ride. At the end of his life, Robb shows his central character as a hunted man who has used up all favors and who has become a liability even to the powerful families that had frequently managed to get him out of trouble. His end remains clouded in mystery : no dead body, doubtful descriptions of the cause of death and even uncertainty about the whereabouts of his death. All this leaves much room for speculation and Robb does a good job in exploring the different possibilities.

Caravaggio was a taciturn man when it came to his art. He did not leave any written material and the reports made of the court cases he was involved in, give us a few terse statements that are hardly elucidating - whatever Robb tries to make of it, seems like grasping at straws. So Caravaggio's art should speak for itself and it must be said that Robb's analyses of Caravaggio's paintings are very insightful - although some interpretations seem a little forced in order to gell with the author's view on the life of the painter.

The reader should however be warned that the b/w and colour plates in the book represent only a fraction of the paintings put on review by the author. This is in my opinion the major shortcoming of this edition : a next editon should contain plates not only of the works of Caravaggio, but also of his contemporaries the author abundantly refers to. Now, you really need to have a separate art book at hand containing colour plates of all the works described by the author, or you will feel like the proverbial blind man listening to another man's description of an elephant... I used Roberto Longhi's "Caravaggio" (Editori Riuniti).

Do not expect "an easy read" : Robb is determined to show his readers he has made his homework and this led to a book packed with historical detail, names and complex family ties. Personally, I was facinated by Robb's digging.

I really expected to like this book -- I studied art history, I love to read biographies, and I'm particularly interested in Italy. However, I found that a number of things bothered me about the book and made it quite a challenge to even get through it. For one thing, I was very turned off by the writing style, which I guess is trying to be chatty and accessible, but instead came across as very affected. Deliberately grammatically incorrect writing is like fingernails on a chalkboard for me - for example, the constant use of double contractions such as "couldn't've" or, worst of all, "that'd've," just about drove me nuts. I was also very irritated by the repeated foreshadowing. For example, constant references to "the dramatic events of 1607" etc., get really annoying after a while. This is especially the case when the dramatic events turn out to be so poorly documented in the original sources that the author can only speculate on what might have happened - and speculation is fine, but it came as a let-down after having slogged through pages and pages of foreshadowing that made me think the author actually knew what would end up happening. Other things that annoyed me were the use of italics instead of quotation marks, and the failure to provide any indication within the text of where most quotations came from (you have to go through a cumbersome process of finding both the reference and the bibliography to even figure out whether some quotations were written in the 17th century or the 20th). I also never got the point of calling the main character "M" - I think this had to do with the various spellings of his name during his lifetime, but calling him M (which he certainly was never called) seems no less arbitrary than just picking a contemporary spelling or calling him Caravaggio like everyone else does. These sound like minor stylistic preferences, but for me the cumulative effect essentially overwhelmed whatever value the book may have had. I personally believe good historical stories, such as the fascinating story of Caravaggio's life, can be told in an academically responsible and grammatically correct way that is still entertaining and readable, but if that's what you're looking for, this is not the book for you.

In short, a well-researched and interesting book written in a virtually impossible-to-read style. Caravaggio's life holds your attention, but the double-contractions, lack of punctuation and single-character reference to Caravaggio as 'M' (including such mechanical feats as "M'd've" (i.e. "Caravaggio would have" (I think.)) make for an unnecessarily long read. Robb's insight into Caravaggio's style is impressive, but hampered by the lack of plates in the book (only 8 full works). (I was driven to use a second book as a reference.) Perhaps Robb was attempting a fresh and realistic take on the English language- much like Caravaggio's take on art. A second printing after a good editing could make _this work_ a masterpiece.

Fascinating story of Caravaggio's life and contemporaries, and minutely detailed descriptions of his work. However, there were NOT enough plates in the book. After reading Robb's accounts of the paintings you immediately want to view the work itself; in most instances there is no corresponding plate, or only a fraction of the piece is shown.

There are plenty of first-rate reviews of this fine biography, so this one is really unnecessary. But I loved this unusual book so much I just wanted to put my two-cents in. Peter Robb has done a masterful job of researching the life and work of this mysterious artist and through deep digging and logical speculation has achieved a wonderful result. Whether he has hit on the truth, I'm not sure, but he convinced this reader. The book often reads like a mystery novel, tightly plotted and swiftly paced. Caravaggio (a name given the artist later because that was the town he came from) used so many names during his lifetime that the author here just refers to him as M, one of the many he used.

A gifted artist whose work is so photo-realistic and beautiful it's astonishing, Caravaggio also was a nearly nightly street thug given to carousing and brawling on the streets of seventeenth-century Rome. He may, and probably was, involved in a few murders along the way. He probably would have spent his life in prison had it not been for his incredible talent and the protection of a few highly placed Church officials.

Peter Robb's book has two themes intertwined here: first, the biographical details of Caravaggio's life and second, a detailed examination of most of Caravaggio's paintings. Either strand, separated from the other, would make a successful and interesting book on its own.

The descriptions of the paintings often covered three or four pages each. As I read these I was simply amazed at the details. I'd look at the painting being discussed and say to myself in surprise, "Yes! Why didn't I notice that?" These descriptions are really small stories told by the paintings and imparted to the reader through Robb's words. I often wished I had an audio recording of the descriptions so that I could just listen as my eyes concentrated on the story in the paintings. Even when the described picture was not reproduced in the book, it made interesting reading and I could almost see the painting in my mind. My only wish is that the book had more reproductions of the paintings. Therefore my recommendation is that a new reader get a book of reproductions of Caravaggio's paintings and have it alongside this one for reference while reading.

Wow, I must say I disagree with so many of the reviews. I was deeply disappointed with the book. I was expecting a fascinating historical biography of a magnificent painter, and got a typographical error ridden screed, railing against the Catholic church (not defending them, but hey, been there, read that), and a boring habit of finding strains of homoeroticism in every inch of exposed skin. I'm truly not a bitter prude or anything, just a very bored reader of very mediocre, predictable work. Sorry.