Caravaggio

by Howard Hibbard, Shirley G. Hibbard

Overview

Caravaggio was one of the most important Italian painters of the 17th century. He was, in fact, the wellspring of Baroque painting. In Hibbard's words, Caravaggio's paintings "speak to us more personally and more poignantly than any others of the time". In this study, Howard Hibbard evaluates the work of Caravaggio: notorious as a painter-assassin, hailed by many as an original interpreter of the scriptures, a man whose exploration of nature has been likened to that of Galileo.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780064301282
Publisher:	Westview Press
Publication date:	03/06/1985
Series:	ICON Editions Series
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	418
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1330L (what's this?)

About the Author

Howard Hibbard (1928-1984) was Professor of Art History at Columbia University. Recognized as an expert of the Italian Baroque, he also wrote on topics such as Caravaggio and Poussin.

Table of Contents

Introduction; finding the way; Egregius In Urbe Pictor; The End Of The Road; notes to the illustrations. Appendix I: other paintings attributed to Caravaggio. Appendix II: old reports about Caravaggio, in the original and in translation.

Editorial Reviews

"Admirable.... This seems bound to remain the standard book on a great and enthralling artist. It is hard to imagine a better one, though it is sure to stimulate fresh and perhaps antagonistic interpretations. The painting of Caravaggio is studied in relation to its historical background, artistic sources, patronage, and his own temperament. Psychoanalytical hypotheses are suggested when plausible but never pressed too hard."
-- Francis Haskell, "New York Review of Books"

"Hibbard has answered a serious need...with remarkable thoroughness, critical balance...with an offering of original insights, and with an enviable clarity and ease in presentation. The book is well illustrated and indexed, and contains transcriptions and translations of early biographies of Caravaggio and a section of notes on the illustrations that could almost be called a catalogue raisonne. Everyone interested in Caravaggio, at any level, will prize it. Highly recommended."
-- "Choice"

"The best general monograph.... As in his earlier studies on Michelangelo and Bernini, Hibbard set out to evaluate the work of a great master for a wide audience, without compromising scholarly standards.... Hibbard's corpus of authentic works is consistently convincing."
-- Richard Spear, "The Burlington Magazine"

"This is the one book on Caravaggio that no one will be able to do without.... There are splendid things in Hibbard's book, perceptive and moving, quite apart from close and illuminating reading of the biographical evidence.... Nothing else in the literature is so continuously enjoyable as well as useful."
-- Lawrence Gowing, "Times Literary Supplement"

From the Publisher

In Caravaggio, his biography of the fascinating 16th-century painter, Howard Hibbard has collected and made comprehensible the extensive body of knowledge accumulated on the subject in the late 20th century. While developing a psychological profile of Caravaggio is key to this study's approach, the discussion maintains an objective tone that lends authority to Hibbard's conclusions

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