Description
What happens when a great novelist takes on art’s most dangerous genius? Francine Prose’s Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles — part of the acclaimed Eminent Lives series of brief biographies — answers with style to spare, bringing a storyteller’s eye to the brief, incandescent life of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
Prose follows the tavern brawls and the street-fight murder of 1606, the flight from Rome as a condemned man, and above all the canvases of shocking immediacy that made him the most sought-after painter of his generation. She is superb on the central paradox: how a man of such violence painted religious scenes of such tenderness and spiritual power.
Short, sharp, and utterly readable, this is a writer’s meditation on genius, brutality, and faith rather than a reference biography. If you have ever stood before a Caravaggio and felt the floor shift, Prose will tell you why — the perfect entry point for discovering the painter.
What happens when one of America’s finest novelists takes on the most notorious painter of the Baroque? Francine Prose’s Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles — part of HarperCollins’ acclaimed Eminent Lives series of brief biographies — answers that question with style to spare.
Prose brings a storyteller’s eye to the brief, incandescent life of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: the tavern brawls and the street-fight murder in 1606, the flight from Rome as a condemned man, and above all the canvases of shocking immediacy that made him the most sought-after painter of his generation. She is particularly good on the paradox at the heart of his art — how a man of such violence could paint religious scenes of such tenderness and spiritual power.
Short, sharp, and utterly readable, this is not a reference biography but a writer’s meditation on genius, brutality, and faith. If you have ever stood before a Caravaggio and felt the floor shift beneath you, Prose’s book will tell you why. A perfect entry point for anyone discovering the painter for the first time.
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