Caravaggio: The Complete Works Paperback – March 31, 2012

This book is the catalogue for the Caravaggio exhibition held in Rome, at the Scuderie del Quirinale until june 2010 to celebrate the fourth centenary of the artist's death. To say that it is a complete retrospective of the artist's output would be painting this book with too broad a brush, as two major paintings are missing (the Fortune Teller and the Death of the Virgin) as well as obviously some of the larger Roman church commissions such as the Conversion of Saint Paul at the Cerasi chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo or the Saint Matthew cycle at the Contarelli chapel in the San Luigi dei Francesi church in Rome.The book itself is divided into two essays that try to evacuate the myth in the artist's biography and concentrate on his qualities as a painter, which is actually the only way to study Caravaggio's biography, since many documents are missing, especially on his youth and early years. Those two introductory essays are somewhat pompous (lengthy paragraphs on pages 27-28 are devoted to thanking and listing the various personalities who enabled the exhibition, whether art officials or politicians, who were already mentioned and thanked in the opening pages of the book...), but still bring forth some interesting elements about Caravaggio's working method and the issues of attribution. Then follow interesting and well documented individual studies of the 26 paintings in the exhibition, some very famous (the Lute Player, Bacchus, the Basket of Fruit, Sleeping Cupid...) and some less so (John the Baptist from the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas, the Conversion of Saint Paul held in a private Italian collection...). On the whole, the text is informative and didactic and tries to avoid pedantry and unnecessary erudition.Now, the disappointment, as another reviewer has already pointed out, comes with the illustrations: granted, there are numerous magnified details, but the quality of the reproductions does leave a lot to be desired and the paintings appear dark, if not somewhat blurred, as if the lightning went out at the moment the picture was taken. Therefore, only 3 stars.

Great photography of his works, even close ups.

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!

Have always liked his work, had to get something with more info. Beautifully illustrated, must have.

The paper quality es superb! And the paintings look like little canvases in your hands, because of the pristine quality imprinted

Read the life history of Caravaggio (Michaelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio) to truly understand the times and influences if this artist. Born 7 years after the death of the other Michaelangelo (Bounorati) the Black Death and the reformation had a profound influence on his life and art

A beautiful book, well illustrated, of the works of the greatest painter of all time (in my opinion)

Gorgeous book, not to be missed. Text and the reproductions are illuminating and aesthetically rich.