“Matching gorgeous prose to gorgeous artworks, Prose responds to each image as a moment of theatrical revelation, sensual or spiritual, and frequently both.” — Boston Sunday Globe
In Caravaggio, New York Times bestselling author Francine Prose offers an enthralling account of the life and work of one of the greatest painters of all time. Caravaggio defied the aesthetic conventions of his time; his use of ordinary people, realistically portrayed—street boys, prostitutes, the poor, the aged—was a profound and revolutionary innovation that left its mark on generations of artists. His insistence on painting from nature, on rendering the emotional truth of experience, whether religious or secular, made him an artist who speaks across the centuries to modern day.
Called “racy, intensely imagined, and highly readable” by the New York Times Book Review, Caravaggio includes eight pages of color illustrations, and is sure to appeal to art enthusiasts interested in one of history’s true innovators. Caravaggio is part of the “Eminent Lives” series from HarperCollins, a selection of biographies by distinguished authors on canonical figures.
Author Info
Francine Prose is the author of twenty-two works of fiction including the highly acclaimed The Vixen;Mister Monkey; the New York Times bestseller Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932; A Changed Man, which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize; and Blue Angel, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her works of nonfiction include the highly praised Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, and the New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer, which has become a classic. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, a Director’s Fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, Prose is a former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at Bard College.
Reviews
“Racy, intensely imagined, and highly readable . . . Prose brings to Caravaggio a fresh and unflinching eye.” — New York Times Book Review
“Combines astute examination of his work with just a plain good yarn about a street tough who painted transcendent pictures.” — Entertainment Weekly
“Elegant . . . [Prose] fills out the intrigue of Caravaggio’s own life and writes terrifically about the paintings.” — Hartford Courant
“Tautly written and insightful.” — Seattle Times
“In this engaging and informative short biography . . . Prose vividly brings [Caravaggio’s] paintings to life.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Matching gorgeous prose to gorgeous artworks, Prose responds to each image as a moment of theatrical revelation, sensual or spiritual.” — Boston Sunday Globe
“Everything a casual reader needs to know about flamboyant Baroque artist Caravaggio... Makes you want to go to the museum.” — U.S. News & World Report
“Prose’s concentrated interpretation... clearly and descriptively explicates the pioneering painter’s unique perception of the miraculous in everyday life.” — Booklist
“Fine biography--and a study of why revolutionary art can be reviled in its own time and revered in another.” — Kirkus Reviews
