Overview

In this highly original study Troy Thomas examines Caravaggio's life andart in relation to his most profound achievement: the creation of modernity. He focuses on the inherent tensions, contradictions and ambiguities inCaravaggio's art - key areas often ignored by other experts. Structured thematicallyand chronologically, the book begins with an in-depth look at theartist's early life and works, which establish and refine his realism, his darksettings and his subtle and clever ambiguity of genre and meaning. Itdescribes his mature religious works that eschew the theatrical stock posesand expressions of previous art.

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9781780236766

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This richly illustrated volume, organized both chronologically and thematically, is a comprehensive examination of the life and career of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio [who] is often celebrated for his use of realism and tenebrism. However, this book has effectively demonstrated that one must look beyond heightened naturalism and pronounced chiaroscuro to fully appreciate the ground-breaking work that Caravaggio produced during his short and turbulent career. Highlighting compositional opposition and ambiguity in Caravaggio's work has allowed Thomas to shed light on the artist's ingenuity and sustained influence. This book is both well written and well documented, and is an excellent read for those looking to broaden their understanding of Michelangelo Merisi as a man, as a master painter, and a revolutionary whose personal manner of making intellectually and sensually engaging art helped lay the foundation for painting in the modern age. --Jennifer Strtak, Yale University Renaissance and Reformation

Thomas s excellent new book provides an accessible but sophisticated examination of Caravaggio as an artist, focusing in particular on his mature Roman paintings. Building on previous scholarship and also offering some intriguing new interpretations of Caravaggio s remarkable pictures, Thomas argues that the ambiguity of the artist s approach to his subjects, along with his novel realism, psychological penetration, and dynamic immediacy, make Caravaggio a truly modern artist. Filled with interesting observations about Caravaggio s pictures, this book examines Caravaggio s uncomfortably human questioning of faith in his religious pictures, while situating the artist in the context of his time and arguing for the unprecedented modernity of his creations. --Babette Bohn, Texas Christian University

Author Information

Troy Thomas is Associate Professor of Humanities and Art History at Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg. He regularly writes and lectures on Italian Renaissance art, Italian Baroque art and art theory.

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