Given the near-total lack of documentary evidence and the elusive nature of [Caravaggio] himself, it is hardly surprising that fictional techniques have penetrated in some ways further and more surely than the sterner disciplines of art history. Graham-Dixon…ably combines the two in Caravaggio. He makes the most of Italian criminal records…to provide graphic glimpses of the young Caravaggio squabbling, fighting, trading threats and insults, smashing plates in restaurants and slashing opponents with knife or sword. The only other available source is the art, to which Graham-Dixon brings the kind of imaginative and emotional intelligence that gives life and point to painstaking research.
…Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane reads like a historical-swashbuckler-cum-detective-story while also providing an up-to-date introduction to some of the most admired paintings in Western art…Graham-Dixon writes with verve and clarity about the work as well as the man and his times.
"A rollicking take on the Counter Reformation painter, an autodidact prone to smashing plates in restaurants, challenging competitors with swords, and using prostitutes as models for the Virgin Mary."
"[Graham-Dixon] took ten years to come to terms with a very obdurate and highly original painter. Time well spent."
"Graham-Dixon's biography brilliantly illuminates the life of an artist who was no less shadowy than his canvases—a man capable of both committing murder and creating ineffable beauty."
"A thrilling lesson in the art of seeing…a detective story with a highly satisfying ending."
"Criticism that manages to be skeptical and humane, dryly witty and deeply serious ..."
"Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane reads like a historical-swashbuckler-cum-detective-story while also providing an up-to-date introduction to some of the most admired paintings in Western art."
"Graham-Dixon combines the rigor of a historian with the imaginative insight of a novelist to create a subtle and beautifully burnished portrait."
"I have never known an art critic in London who responds so well, year in and year out, to the challenge of subjects that cover the whole range of Western art."
"Graham-Dixon combed the criminal records of the era to glean extraordinary details about the artist’s run-ins with the law. He skillfully evokes the social and religious context of turn-of-the-17th-century Italy."
Associated Press - Ann Levin
"Andrew Graham-Dixon is the most gifted art critic of his generation."
"Andrew Graham-Dixon brings the bad-boy genius of the seventeenth century to life as vividly as if he were one of today’s pop stars."
"Caravaggio has rarely been seen in such depth and such relief as in this marvelous biography."
"[Graham-Dixon’s] achieved a masterpiece of his own: an informative, fresh account of the painter’s life and death. Even more impressive are the author’s powerful and accessible analyses of Caravaggio’s paintings, commentary that leaves readers eager to see the pieces at the heart of the story."
Dallas Morning News - Michelle Jones
"[Graham-Dixon] is an entertaining art historian. He took ten years to come to terms with a very obdurate and highly original painter. Time well spent."
New publications (e.g., Michael Fried's The Moment of Caravaggio and John T. Spike's Caravaggio) continue to appear in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the death of Caravaggio. This one takes a more biographical than art historical approach to the controversial artist. Art critic and BBC television art series presenter Graham-Dixon (Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel) firmly places Caravaggio in his milieu right from the beginning of his life, discussing the important connection between his family and the family of one of the heroes of the Battle of Lepanto, which took place eight days after Caravaggio's birth. Further reading suggestions (English and Italian), an index, endnotes, and maps are included. VERDICT Recommended for special collections, art faculty and students, and interested general readers. (Final images not seen.)—Nancy J. Mactague, Aurora Univ. Lib., IL
Expansive life of the masterful yet mercurial artist.
Even though he apprenticed and served in several studios, Caravaggio (1571–1610) painted according to his own rules, updating Bible stories with his own vision of violence. He was an autodidact unencumbered by current artistic customs, and he painted what he saw in the pious realism fostered by Carlo Borromeo, reviving the empathic visualization of Francis of Assisi and the Sacro Monte of the Piedmont region. Regressing to the art that preceded the High Renaissance, Caravaggio established an entirely new genre of stark realism and visceral detail. He never did preliminary sketches and painted only from carefully set up models; he was unable to paint from imagination or memory. His virtuosity, mastery of chiaroscuro and ability to make the sacred profane established him as the ideal for painters as varied as Rubens, Velasquez, David and even Picasso, who invoked his use of realism as he paintedGuernica . British art critic Graham-Dixon (Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel , 2009, etc.) brilliantly points out how Caravaggio's paintings reflected a violent man in violent times, and self-portrait insertions in many of his paintings reflect the progression of the artist's agonies. As the artistic capital of the world, Rome quickly recognized his talent, providing many patrons to bail him out after his frequent violent encounters. His capacity for trouble mirrored his art, "a series of lightning flashes in the darkest of nights." Because he wrenched so much from the depths of his soul into his paintings, it's no wonder he lived such a short life.
An impressive web of biography, social history and art history.
