Caravaggio (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Michelangelo Merisi Da Caravaggio (Author), Michele K. Spike (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Spike's opus is suspended between two eras of the technology of literacy. A well-illustrated text is given over to a chronologically structured study of the artist's life and work, while an enclosed CD-ROM provides a densely detailed catalogue raisonn . While the mass of documentation found in the electronic component of this catalog will be of considerable value to serious students of art history, the book proper does little to advance our understanding of the art or enlarge our appreciation of the significance of the artist. Sporadic efforts to relate the artist to a broad range of contemporary scientific and religious thought, while at times insightful, can also sometimes seem excessive and improbable. Consistent formal scrutiny is also too often slighted in favor of iconographic readings that range from the erudite but plausible to the recondite but strained. Catherine Puglisi's Caravaggio (LJ 4/1/99) is a superior introduction to the artist and his works, while Helen Langdon's Caravaggio: A Life (LJ 6/1/99) is a superior biographical and contextual study. Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New York
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

For the first time nearly every extant work by Caravaggio is reproduced in color in this lavish new volume, the long-awaited result of more than 20 years of research by a leading authority on the artist.

In an engaging and informed text, John T. Spike explores in detail Caravaggio's scandalous life and provocative work. Placing Caravaggio within the broad panorama of society and ideas at the turn of the 17th century, the author sets a richly detailed stage for an artist who has been called "the first modern painter." Caravaggio (1571-1610) reflected in his canvases his own desires and spiritual crises to an extent no one ever had imagined possible, and he shocked his contemporaries by portraying the saints and virgins of Christianity with the faces and bodies of his companions and lovers in Rome's demimonde.

Accompanying the book is a critical catalog on CD-ROM in which all of Caravaggio's extant paintings, as well as lost and rejected works, are thoroughly described. Each entry specifies the work's medium, dimensions, location, and provenance, and provides an annotated bibliography of sources. Most of the entries conclude with a brief technical analysis. Much of this scientific data, of prime importance for attribution and dating, has not previously been published.

With its fresh insights, as well as judicious readings of the documents and the physical evidence of the paintings themselves, Caravaggio is the most thorough study on the artist to date, and it will no doubt remain a definitive monograph for many years to come.

Other Details:
160 color, 190 b/w illustrations. 11 x 13" trim size. Published in 2001.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press (January 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789206390
• ISBN-13: 978-0789206398
• Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 11.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #142,396 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As Beautiful a Book as The Paintings Themselves, December 27, 2001

By	Frank Perry (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a truly magnificent art book, very large, very heavy, very complete. The paper on which the book is printed and on which the paintings are reproduced is very thick and very fine. The paintings themselves and most of Caravaggio's paintings are reproduced here -- mostly in bright, vivid color, many with additional close-up details -- are a delight and are awe-inspiring.

Caravaggio is one of the most magnificent of the Seventeenth Centruy Italian artists. His work is exquisite and sensuously beautiful. This is one of the most extensive catalogues of his work in book form I have ever seen. Michelangelo Merisi himself was something of a roguish, mysterious man, and his life proves to be almost as interesting as the paintings themselves. Spike here gives a fairly complete biography of Merisi who was called "Caravaggio" because he came from that small Italian town. After all, there was another Michelangelo already famous during Caravaggio's lifetime so another name was needed for him.

The text written by John spike is scholarly and straight forward, but there remain many unanswered questions about this strange artist. While the events of Caravaggio's life are vividly told, the text also explains and illuminates each painting through interesting alalyses. Spike tends to be factual and does not speculate much on the mysteries surrounding this dark figure. If you want to be as much entertained as educated on this artist, you might enjoy reading a "companion piece" of sorts: Peter Robb's "M, the Man Who Became Caravaggio". Robb's book is highly speculative, but a well-researched (and fun) boigraphy that porbes the dark side of Merisi's life that I found very convincing in its conclusions. (Not everyone does, however.)

One of the reasons I wanted to buy this admittedly expensive book was because it also contains a CD Rom with the "complete catalog" of all of Caravaggio's work. I was disappoined when I opened the CD Rom because I had expected to find all the paintings themselves in digital form, but there are none on the CD Rom except the cover painting from the book. The CD Rom is otherwise all-text which requires Acrobat Reader (provided with the CD ROM.) But I soon got over the disappointment because the book itself does such a good job of showing this magnificent artist's work so vividly, beautifully, and completely.

This is no ordinary art book. You will treasure it and be proud to show it to friends. It is a fine book produced with the most exquisite techniques of bookbinding. Simply Gorgeous!

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Poor pictures detract from this great work, January 20, 2002

By	Mark Vella (Missouri City, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

I agree with the comments in the other reviews that this is an excellent book. It is a shame that many of the pictures are so poor in quality. As a Caravaggio fan, I get a lot of enjoyment even from just viewing the pictures.
Now all we need is a new Caravaggio book with the pictures from Catherine Puglisi's book and the text from John Spike's book.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the one., March 9, 2002

By	Paul Gervais (Italy) - See all my reviews

My library contains many various volumes on the subject of Caravaggio--fiction, biography, fictionalized biography and photo surverys of his works--but if I were allowed only one book on this most extradordinary painter and his life I'd take "Caravaggio" by John T. Spike. In this weighty large-format picture-book Mr. Spike has given us the most complete look at the artist and his works currently available, presented in graceful depth so as to engage any interested reader and art enthusiast regardless of the nature of his commitment. It's unusual to find such an authoritative colaboration of art historical expertise and first quality illustration as we have here, a book to read, study and savor.