Caravaggio

The Artist and His Work

Ebert-Schifferer Sybille

This is a fascinating re-evaluation of the life and works of a hugely talented yet controversial artist. The young Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) created a major stir in late-sixteenth-century Rome with the groundbreaking naturalism and highly charged emotionalism of his paintings. "Caravaggio" is a sumptuously illustrated and engagingly written volume that takes a fresh look at Caravaggio's life and works, uncovering evidence that the efforts of Caravaggio's contemporaries to disparage his character and his artwork often sprang from their own cultural biases or a desire to promote the artistic achievements of his rivals, and that contrary to repeated claims, Caravaggio lacked neither education nor piety, but was an extremely accomplished technician who developed a successful marketing strategy.

About the Author

Sybille Ebert-Schifferer is the director of the Bibliotheca Hertziana at the Max Planck Institute for Art History in Rome.

Reviews

"This is a rigorous and scrupulous reexamination of Caravaggio's works by the standards of art... The narrative is clear and well-reasoned, and the translation from the original German is exemplary... And then there are the works themselves! Gorgeously reproduced and exceptionally well integrated into the text, this is a book that should be particularly sought after by those new to the works of this incomparable master" – THE Magazine

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