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Summary: All history should be written like this...
Review: After years of sitting through droning art history classes Peter Robb finally writes the book that all histories could be modeled on- He gives us the dirt. The culture M made his art in and for is explained for us in great detail, especially the political climate of Rome at the turn of the seventeenth century and all that implied for artists and churchmen alike. Mr. Robb does not hesitate to discuss the seamier aspects of Italian life in this period and it's consequences on M's career. His analysis of the painters career and the development of his work is truly inspired. The research is painstaking, and combined with a deep understanding of human nature Mr. Robb has produced a fascinating and informative work. An absolute requirement for all art historians and painters. You'll need a catologue of the paintings to look at as you read; The book is barely illustrated. So... I was just blown away. Of course I'm a painter and am just enthralled by art history.
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Summary: Favorite read this year. Use in combo w/Moir's art book
Review: As an artist and and art lover, I picked up this book to learn more about the artist who painted some of the most amazing paintings of his time. I got the chance to see many of them in small run-down chapels in Rome when I was there- I had the idea from his images that Carravagio was, like many artists, a tortured genius who was secretive and misunderstood in his time. I got a kick out of reading this book because exactly the opposite is true. Carravagio was a constant troublemaker- a guy who couldn't stay away from brawls, duels and other forms of trechery dispite the fact that his images made him famous in his time. Those who knew him and were forced to deal with him found him to be a difficult person, but an amazing artist- Peter Robb went to great lengths to get inside the head of this individual, who's life remains a mystery dispite his fame. From his humble beginings to his mysterious death, Robb draws on discriptions from the writings of his contemporaries and the police records from the city of Rome.
Though the book starts slowly and takes some time to get into, you will be amazed to know the circumstances surrounding this firey character and his beautiful images. It is well worth the read-
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Summary: Innovation does not always guarantee success
Review: Brimming with historical detail and clearly well researched, it is a shame this book is not more artfully written and furnished with more reproductions of the mentioned art. In his enthusiasm to plunge his readers into Caravaggio's unsavoury environment, Mr. Robb takes on a street talk vernacular, even renaming the painting titles. But, Caravaggio often painted more than one work with the same or very similar title and the author habitually neglects to mention enough details to identify the correct work. Instead, the reader must constantly thumb back and forth toward the end of the book, where they are listed chronologically. Using the location of the works, provided in this list, is the key to cross referencing, for locating them in other sources. Adding to these glaring inconveniences, one is forced to hunt through other sources like picture art books or webpages to understand what he is talking about, since so much of what he says is based on the paintings themselves, of which, few reproductions are provided. What is the point of reading about a painting you are not currently viewing?
Complete with the gory depiction on the book cover, it is marketed as a "sensational" read, but that's where the excitement ends. On the cover, the reproduction demonstrates precisely the main thesis of the book, which asserts that the artist reveals his character through his art. Mr. Robb prefers this method over the traditional route of relying on accounts of the subject's contemporaries and biographers. He astutely proves the reasons why these sources are often less than reliable and this is what saves this book from a toss against the wall. Attempting creativity in his biography of an historical figure is a good idea except he does not blend this with his other goal of retaining the depth from his research. As a result, it is not the light read as promoted, but rather an academic read with some innovative writing tricks which "might've" worked had they been combined with a less laboured writing style.
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Summary: Innovation does not always guarantee success
Review: Brimming with historical detail and clearly well researched, it is a shame this book is not more artfully written and furnished with more reproductions of the mentioned art. In his enthusiasm to plunge his readers into Caravaggio's unsavoury environment, Mr. Robb takes on a street talk vernacular, even renaming the painting titles. But, Caravaggio often painted more than one work with the same or very similar title and the author habitually neglects to mention enough details to identify the correct work. Instead, the reader must constantly thumb back and forth toward the end of the book, where they are listed chronologically. Using the location of the works, provided in this list, is the key to cross referencing, for locating them in other sources. Adding to these glaring inconveniences, one is forced to hunt through other sources like picture art books or webpages to understand what he is talking about, since so much of what he says is based on the paintings themselves, of which, few reproductions are provided. What is the point of reading about a painting you are not currently viewing?
Complete with the gory depiction on the book cover, it is marketed as a "sensational" read, but that's where the excitement ends. On the cover, the reproduction demonstrates precisely the main thesis of the book, which asserts that the artist reveals his character through his art. Mr. Robb prefers this method over the traditional route of relying on accounts of the subject's contemporaries and biographers. He astutely proves the reasons why these sources are often less than reliable and this is what saves this book from a toss against the wall. Attempting creativity in his biography of an historical figure is a good idea except he does not blend this with his other goal of retaining the depth from his research. As a result, it is not the light read as promoted, but rather an academic read with some innovative writing tricks which "might've" worked had they been combined with a less laboured writing style.
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Summary: Interesting but difficult reading
Review: Caravaggio is one of my favorite painters, which is the only reason I stuck with this book. It is definitely an interesting book but I found it a challenge to read! The style put me off with the many contractions and skipping to new characters in the story with little or no warning or introduction. Quite often I found myself retracing a few previous pages to get the drift. I found the story of contemporary Italy to be as interesting as the life of Caravaggio. It seemed to me that author Robb is very anti-Church and his gossipy stories of various Churchmen and noblemen was always interesting to read. I had to dig up a book on Caravaggio's paintings from my collection to have some pictures to look at as there are too few illustrations in the book. I did manage to find a website that has most of his paintings on it, which helped me follow Robb's excellent descriptions of the paintings. Maybe some editor could cull out about 100 pages to make this book a bit more compact.
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Summary: This is no Midnight in Sicily
Review: Don't get me wrong: I love Peter Robb's writing and I am green with envy at his ability to find ways to spend long periods of time in Italy. But, it seems that there was too little historical fact about Caravaggio's life to build a book like this around. Robb's book, Midnight in Sicily, had much recorded history to serve as a framework, which, coupled with contemporary descriptions of life in Southern Italy and Sicily, grew into very compelling reading.
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Summary: A thrilling story and a great art book
Review: Peter Robb has managed to achieve a miraculous symphony in this long (500 + pages) book: It's a biography, a detective story (little is known about Caravaggio's life), a social history of Rome, and a definitive art book. As a result, you can read this book on many levels. I read it first as a "beach book" for the story, and then again, when I took a vacation to Rome and tried to see as many of his remaining paintings as I could. Robb explains how Caravaggio was a breakthrough painter in his use of light, and in his use of recognizable local models (almost all of whom Robb has been able to identify) to express the religious art of the day. Mannerism died at his hands. Moreover, Peter Robb builds a credible portrait of Caravaggio's brittle personality--it's easy to see why people were out to kill him. At first I thought the title "M" was a little contrived, but by the end of the book, I realized that it's cipher for the real man behind the familiar name. (Calling someone "Caravaggio" after the town is like giving someone the nickname "Boston"). The reproductions are carefully chosen and richly presented. You'll enjoy reading--and re-reading--this wonderful book.
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Summary: Penetrating insight obscured by odd verbal tics
Review: Reviewer Frank Martini beat me to the punch, but it's worth repeating -- this is a fine biography undermined by a writing style that becomes progressively harder to ignore as one reads along. Peter Robb has been badly served by his editors in this regard. He never misses an opportunity to use a contraction or to even glue two or more contractions together into a noisome verbal confection that trips the reader up. His preferences for non-standard punctuation, probably most charitably described as "odd," also stand out like loud, sour, distracting notes in an otherwise masterful composition. Robb's lack of decent editing is especially unfortunate because he has produced a fine biography from a very meager historical record. Michelangelo Merisi left little in the way of documentary evidence to mark his brief four decades of life. Until very recently, Merisi's biography was his work, the canvases he churned out with amazing proliferation, often according to his needs for money and political patronage. Robb does an outstanding job of placing Merisi within the context of the Italy of his era and invoking the various religious and political tensions which roiled the peninsula's art world throughout Merisi's life. Robb is also outstanding at dissecting Merisi's work, telling us how canvases were done, the techniques Merisi used to achieve his goals and the emotional connection his work made with his audiences. I was particularly impressed with Robb's conceit pairing Merisi with 1940s photographer WeeGee, whose gritty real-life, black and white compositions rose or fell on the contradictions between the two opposed qualities of light. In this sense, Merisi followed in God's footsteps by demanding, first of all, that there be light. The book is dogged by a dearth of color plates of Merisi's surviving work. It can be frustrating to read Robb's often eloquent descriptions of a Merisi canvas only to find that one has to put the book down and look for a reproduction of it on the Internet. And, while I applaud Robb's detective work in piecing together the few remaining scraps of contemporary documentation of Merisi's adult life, I can't help but wonder what might remain to be found in the Vatican's archives or in those of the Spanish monarchy. Robb is such a good researcher that one longs to see him slip the leash and come up with more documentation, particularly concerning Merisi's final days. This book is a splendid introduction to Merisi's work even despite the caveats I have mentioned. Be prepared to spend some time and mental energy in reading it, but it will be worth your effort. Michelangelo Merisi was instantly recognized during his own lifetime as one of those rare geniuses who completely transform art, which is never the same afterwards. His recent rediscovery is long overdue and Peter Robb's empathetic reading of the life and work of the man who became Caravaggio should further that rediscovery.
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Summary: A new way of writing
Review: Robb's 'M' is sheer brilliance. It is controversial and path break not simply as research but as writing. Robb brings Caravaggio alive and he does so by analysing what type of character the painter must have been and then writing in that style. In this way, Robb's writing is itself art. It is new, clever and fresh. The book is worth reading not simply from its historical content but from the artistry of what Robb himself has achieved. And so the book works at two levels: Robb's and Caravaggio's.
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Summary: Caravaggio
Review: This is a fascinating book. It gives the reader a nearly physical experience of life in the Renaissance Italy that Caravaggio knew. The descriptions of specific paintings is absolutely right: even without the excellent illustrations. What also becames clear, was exactly how new, different, bold and shocking was Caravaggio's art. No biography of Caravaggio can concentrate on Caravaggio the artist-inovator and ignore Caravaggio the rebel-bad-boy. The presentation of the sexual indescretions, the equivical social status and ideological independence which caused the rift between Caravaggio and the incresingly conservative authorities in Rome read like chapers from a Mario Puzo godfather novel.
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