History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Average customer rating:

excellent historical account--unecesary dragging
Interesting look at Caravaggio fever
Loved it
Learning art
Great Artist, Good Story, Fair Writing

The Lost Painting
Jonathan Harr
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375759867
Release Date: 2006-11-07

Book Description

An Italian village on a hilltop near the Adriatic coast, a decaying palazzo facing the sea, and in the basement, cobwebbed and dusty, lit by a single bulb, an archive unknown to scholars. Here, a young graduate student from Rome, Francesca Cappelletti, makes a discovery that inspires a search for a work of art of incalculable value, a painting lost for almost two centuries.

The artist was Caravaggio, a master of the Italian Baroque. He was a genius, a revolutionary painter, and a man beset by personal demons. Four hundred years ago, he drank and brawled in the taverns and streets of Rome, moving from one rooming house to another, constantly in and out of jail, all the while painting works of transcendent emotional and visual power. He rose from obscurity to fame and wealth, but success didn’t alter his violent temperament. His rage finally led him to commit murder, forcing him to flee Rome a hunted man. He died young, alone, and under strange circumstances.

Caravaggio scholars estimate that between sixty and eighty of his works are in existence today. Many others–no one knows the precise number–have been lost to time. Somewhere, surely, a masterpiece lies forgotten in a storeroom, or in a small parish church, or hanging above a fireplace, mistaken for a mere copy.

Prizewinning author Jonathan Harr embarks on an spellbinding journey to discover the long-lost painting known as The Taking of Christ–its mysterious fate and the circumstances of its disappearance have captivated Caravaggio devotees for years. After Francesca Cappelletti stumbles across a clue in that dusty archive, she tracks the painting across a continent and hundreds of years of history. But it is not until she meets Sergio Benedetti, an art restorer working in Ireland, that she finally manages to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle.

Told with consummate skill by the writer of the bestselling, award-winning A Civil Action, The Lost Painting is a remarkable synthesis of history and detective story. The fascinating details of Caravaggio’s strange, turbulent career and the astonishing beauty of his work come to life in these pages. Harr’s account is not unlike a Caravaggio painting: vivid, deftly wrought, and enthralling.
". . . Jonathan Harr has gone to the trouble of writing what will probably be a bestseller . . . rich and wonderful. . .in truth, the book reads better than a thriller because, unlike a lot of best-selling nonfiction authors who write in a more or less novelistic vein (Harr's previous book, A Civil Action, was made into a John Travolta movie), Harr doesn't plump up hi tale. He almost never foreshadows, doesn't implausibly reconstruct entire conversations and rarely throws in litanies of clearly conjectured or imagined details just for color's sake. . .if you're a sucker for Rome, and for dusk. . .[you'll] enjoy Harr's more clearly reported details about life in the city, as when--one of my favorite moments in the whole book--Francesca and another young colleague try to calm their nerves before a crucial meeting with a forbidding professor by eating gelato. And who wouldn't in Italy? The pleasures of travelogue here are incidental but not inconsiderable." --The New York Times Book Review

"Jonathan Harr has taken the story of the lost painting, and woven from it a deeply moving narrative about history, art and taste--and about the greed, envy, covetousness and professional jealousy of people who fall prey to obsession. It is as perfect a work of narrative nonfiction as you could ever hope to read." --The Economist

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

excellent historical account--unecesary dragging .......2007-09-25

I love Art History. I did not love this book. While the story is historically accurate, I felt I was being dragged through a load of gravel to get to the end. I wanted to quit reading after the first 25 pages--I put the book down at least 6 times over three months, and picked up more riveting books--real page turners. I was waiting for Haar to disclose some juicy secrets about the painting's discovery: didn't happen. But, I had to finish the book--it's my nature and I was afraid I might miss something. (I do admit at the end the restoration process was interesting.) I think I would have preferred to just read the original Art History Journals regarding this stunning story--The Missing Masterpiece:discovery, restoration, and salvation from bad restoration.

Interesting look at Caravaggio fever .......2007-07-28

I read this book after seeing the Caravaggio painting that is its subject at the Dublin Museum of Fine Art. I'm glad things happened in that order as the exhaustive detail in this narrative-style work can be a little off-putting in the first third or so of the book. There is so much time spent on a related lead-in research project on Caravaggio, that the reader is often left wondering where the story is leading.

The spectacular painting, "The Taking of Christ," speaks for itself in the viewing, but also explains why the art world is so obsessive about Caravaggio's work and ultimately justifies the circuitous route author Harr takes in telling the story of the painting's rediscovery after hundreds of years.. The artist was such a genius and produced such remarkable paintings that anyone who enjoys beautiful things can become an ardent admirer without much effort. The great tragedy of Caravaggio's life was its frequent derailing by violent relationships with friends, rivals, and authorities (the result of bipolar illness?), with its interruption of production as well as the subsequent destruction of many of his works.

Harr has produced a competent and well-told story of the pursuit and discovery of one of Caravaggio's great masterpieces that should be intriguing to art afficionados, but which is also accessible and interesting to the layman.

Loved it.......2007-03-08

I loved this book, although I must admit up front that I have a master's degree in art history, and lived in Italy in grad school (and therefore very much drawn to books such as this one). My friends in my book group that are not art historians did not find it as irresistable as I did, but they all liked it very much.

Learning art.......2007-03-07

This book is a fast read that teaches a lot! I knew very little of art history and never even heard of Caravaggio. The characters bring to life a story that we would otherwise be bored with on the History Channel. I love the way that you learn so much but get a good story out of it.

Great Artist, Good Story, Fair Writing.......2007-03-03

Finding a lost work by a master artist is always riveting: a Michaelangelo drawing found stuffed in the archives of the Cooper-Hewitt in New York, a Cimabue is noticed casually hanging on the wall of a house. So also the discovery of a much looked for but long lost painting by the 16th-century Italian, Caravaggio. This is the focus of `The Lost Painting.' Yet despite the subject, the author almost manages to make it boring. Almost.

Harr recounts the stories of the scholars, most of them Italian, involved in the discovery of Carravagio's 'The Taking of Christ,' which, as is often the case with lost masterpieces, was hidden in plain sight. It's a tale that, for a few years in the 1990s, has its principal characters criss-crossing Europe, slowly piecing together clues, hiding some of those clues from each other, being generous and being selfish, and ultimately coming together when they realize the magnitude of their discovery. And at its center is the brief and violent life of Caravaggio. In short, it is a very human story.

Unfortunately the author's prose often lacks passion, an ability to convey the extreme emotions that his characters no doubt felt. It is almost as if, the outcome known in advance, his actors are simply going through the motions. Despite this, however, Harr's attention to detail and methodic unveiling of each new development enables the reader to fill in the emotional gaps. In short, it's a good story, solidly written, but you'll need to add a splash of your own imagination. Given that this book takes you across a continent and across centuries, and into the world of the dangerous, beautiful, and brilliant Caravaggio, that shouldn't be too hard.

Average customer rating:

Fantastic
A beautiful book!
Another life for Botticelli

Botticelli: Life and Work
Ronald Lightbown
Manufacturer: Abbeville Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0896599310

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic.......2006-02-27

This book is worth the money if only for the reproductions. Lots of large plates with a lot of close ups as well. If you only want one book on Botticelli this would be a good one.

A beautiful book!.......2005-08-14

This is fascinating book about the life of Botticelli and techniques he used. The reproductions are wonderful, including some close-ups of characters from selected paintings. I recently returned from Italy, and having viewed many of these paintings at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence makes the reading and the beautiful color plates throughout the book all the more enjoyable. I would highly recommend this book to fans of Renaissance art.

Another life for Botticelli.......2003-11-03

In the life of Sandro Botticelli, Lightbown does not remark the big season of secret science that linked several artists in and around Florence.
This science that today we can call "esoterism" come from the recent middle age and increased in Florence his importance.
The Great Lorenzo dei Medici was one of the most important men of this matter.

Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting (National Gallery Of Art, Washington)

Average customer rating:

The Renaissance at its finest.
High water mark of renaissance painting

Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting (National Gallery Of Art, Washington)
David Alan Brown , and Sylvia Ferino-Pagden
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0300116772

Book Description

The first three decades of the sixteenth century represent, visually and intellectually, the most exciting phase of the Renaissance in Venice—when Giorgione and the young Titian, together with Sebastiano del Piombo, Palma Vecchio, and others, were working alongside the older master Giovanni Bellini. This beautiful book presents an innovative survey of sixty Venetian Renaissance paintings of the caliber of Bellini and Titian’s Feast of the Gods in Washington and Giorgione’s Laura and Three Philosophers in Vienna.

Unlike previous surveys of the period, this book refrains from dividing up the artists represented and instead explores the interrelationships between them. Through a series of thematic sections, the authors trace the rise of secular subjects—pastoral landscapes, female nudes, and romantic portraits—and the transformation of religious ones as well as innovations in style and technique. Cutting across genres, the book also focuses on the overarching themes of music, love, and time.

Featuring essays by leading scholars, detailed entries on some of the most renowned pictures of sixteenth-century Italy, and revealing technical information, Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting is an essential volume to own.

Customer Reviews:

The Renaissance at its finest........2007-01-11

A must for the student and lover of the Renaissance and Venice in particular.

High water mark of renaissance painting.......2006-07-29

This remarkable show (and catalogue) is a summary of Venetian painting from 1500 to 1530, allowing a side by side comparison of the work of Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian in what was one of Venice's astonishing high water marks of artistic creativity.

Once you have been bitten by the bug, these paintings are with you for good. Seeing this work firsthand, one can't help be seduced by the ravishing, luminous beauty light and layers of glazing that makes these paintings unique. The stillness in some of these works suggest the real subject here is light and color -- something these Venetians seem to have captured like no other group of artists.

The reproductions in the catalogue are quite good, and there are a very generous amount of close detail shots of the paintings too -- something particularly useful in illustrating the intricacy of detail in Giorgione's work. The essays are interesting, but my favorite is one I almost missed after the technical photographs of xrays in the back: an essay which describes how the Venetian painters were at a remarkable crossroads of shared experimentation in color including glassmakers, creators of fabric dyes, and other tradesmen that contributed to a new world of color effects in paint. For example the painters would use finely ground glass mixed into the oils to give the glazes a more bright, refractory quality.

This is a captivating show and a great catalogue to accompany it.

Average customer rating:

An excellent book.
A treasure!
Stunning artistry, breathtaking color...
Excellent Reproductions and very good text -- Truly Majestic
Wow! Next best thing to being there!

Michelangelo: The Vatican Frescoes
Pierluigi De Vecchi , and Gianluigi Colalucci
Manufacturer: Abbeville Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0789201429

Amazon.com

The restoration of Michelangelo's magnificent frescoes in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel stirred up much controversy and debate among scholars, art historians, and art lovers alike. Originally painted in the late 15th century, it took restorers 14 painstaking years (from 1981 to 1995) to remove the centuries' worth of dust and decay that had obscured the frescoes' brilliant colors and intricate designs. In 250 gorgeous full-color photographs, this unique and beautiful volume presents Michelangelo's restored chapel--perhaps the greatest masterpiece of Renaissance art--in its entirety, from the Creation to the Last Judgment, both before and after cleaning. The only definitive study of the restoration process, this book is the next best thing to actually being there.

Book Description

The restoration of Michelangelo's magnificent frescoes in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel is perhaps the most controversial event in the art world in the past three decades. Now, after nearly fifteen years of effort, the restoration is finally complete. This unique volume-the first to document the project-is the result of an unparalleled international photographic campaign. For the first time, the restored Chapel is shown in its entirety, from the Creation to the Last Judgment. Glorious, full-color photographs-250 in all-portray the frescoes both before and after their restoration, providing an unforgettable view of the meticulous work that many believe restored the frescoes to their original High Renaissance splendor.

Originally created in the late 1400s, the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel are the best-known of all the Vatican masterpieces. As early as 1502, however, tourists began noting the damage wrought by smoke and crumbling walls. By 1980 the need for conservation appeared to be dire. The restoration team had to contend with centuries of decay-structural fractures in the walls and ceilings, soot and dust accumulation, and rainwater seepage that left white patches on every surface. Artisans in previous centuries had made attempts at conservation, but often did more harm than good; the frescoes were found to be coated with many layers of "protective" glue that had yellowed and darkened with age.

Though many art historians opposed the restoration, believing that Michelangelo was a somber artist who worked in dark and muted colors, the endeavor presents frescoes that are gloriously vivid, setting the chapel aglow with their brilliance. In addition, they provide new insights about Michelangelo's brushstroke techniques, and add more information to a centuries-old debate over how he worked with the wet plaster surface of the frescoes.

Written with Gianluigi Colalucci, the technical overseer of the restoration, the text provides an intimate understanding of this masterpiece of Renaissance art. It explains the various forensic studies carried out in the course of the project, the pragmatic concerns of the restoration, and the many problems of historical approach that were confronted. This volume, including remarkable new pictures of the Chapel frescoes, belongs in the libraries of every art historian and student of the Italian Renaissance.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent book........2007-01-14

The image quality in this book is excellent. I have never been to Vatican. So it's hard to judge whether the color is right. I just try to use this book to study anatomy after Michelangelo. For some parts of frescoes, this book provides enlarged pictures. Some images show the frescoes before restoration, although not in detail. In general, it's a great reference book for my study.

A treasure!.......2004-08-06

Being an admirer of the magnificent Michelangelo I am very pleased to have acquired this book. The pictures are beautifully printed. By the end of the book I wish to revisit the Sistine Chapel to view those parts printed in the book which I have obviously missed with my naked eyes. The details of the restoration work is an added bonus. To get the most of this book, please read it together with "Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling" by Ross King. You will not regret the experience. Michelangelo's frescoes are simply sublime!

Stunning artistry, breathtaking color..........2003-04-11

The photographs in this book are too good to be believed. I have never had an art book on the Sistine Chapel before that so moved me.
It was obviously produced with great care -- the colors look perfect, the focus is perfect. I can't rave about this book enough. And so complete! You will know every nook and cranny of the Chapel when you finish this book.
Well worth more than what you pay for it.

Excellent Reproductions and very good text -- Truly Majestic.......2001-01-08

This is an absolutely superb book, largely because the reproductions of the frescoes are excellent and really capture the colors that you see when you visit the Chapel. I have found many art books disappointing, because they simply fail to capture the works they present. I first saw this book in an American bookstore after visiting the Sistine Chapel, and really thrilled to see if after looking at several other books where colors were much duller and the images simply not as sharp. In addition to its fine colors, the book provides many fine closeups of each individual section. The text is also very good, describing the subjects of the painting, the history behind the paintings, ansd also the recent restorstion. This is a must-have book!

Wow! Next best thing to being there!.......1999-05-19

For those that want a closer look at the Vatican Frescoes, this is as good as it gets. This book shows Michelangelo's work in their newly restored splendor. It is scarcely imaginable that one man could have created such beauty. It surely reminds us of what we are all capable of reaching.

Average customer rating:

Bronzino: Renaissance Painter as Poet
Deborah Parker
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521781663

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Bronzino's stature as one of the great painters of the Florentine Renaissance has long been recognized. By contrast, his literary achievements as a poet have been neglected. This is the first modern study to focus on the poetry of Bronzino. Seeking to clarify the meaning of Bronzino's poems, Deborah Parker argues that they are considerable literary achievements. Importantly, she demonstrates that our understanding of Bronzino's paintings is incomplete without careful attention to his poetry.

Painting in the Age of Giotto: A Historical Reevaluation

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Painting in the Age of Giotto: A Historical Reevaluation
Hayden B. J. Maginnis
Manufacturer: Pennsylvania State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0271015993

The Cabinet of Eros: Renaissance Mythological Painting and the Studiolo of Isabella d'Este

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The Cabinet of Eros: Renaissance Mythological Painting and the Studiolo of Isabella d'Este
Stephen Campbell
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0300117531

Book Description

The Renaissance studiolo was a space devoted in theory to private reading and contemplation, but at the Italian courts of the fifteenth century, it had become a space of luxury, as much devoted to displaying the taste and culture of its occupant as to studious withdrawal. The most famous studiolo of all was that of Isabella d’Este, marchioness of Mantua (1474–1539). A chief component of its decoration was a series of seven paintings by some of the most noteworthy artists of the time, including Andrea Mantegna, Pietro Perugino, Lorenzo Costa, and Correggio.
These paintings encapsulated the principles of an emerging Renaissance artistic genre—the mythological image. Using these paintings as an exemplary case, and drawing on other important examples made by Giorgione in Venice and by Titian and Michelangelo for the Duke of Ferrara, Stephen Campbell explores the function of the mythological image within a Renaissance culture of readers and collectors.

Average customer rating:

a very impressive book
Is the world flat ?
Pure Imagination
A Superlative Read!
A thrilling story and a great art book

M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
Peter Robb
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805063560

Book Description

A bold, fresh biography of the world's first modern painter As presented with "blood and bone and sinew" (Times Literary Supplement) by Peter Robb, Caravaggio's wild and tempestuous life was a provocation to a culture in a state of siege. The of the sixteenth century was marked by the Inquisition and Counter-Reformation, a background of ideological cold war against which, despite all odds and at great cost to their creators, brilliant feats of art and science were achieved. No artist captured the dark, violent spirit of the time better than Caravaggio, variously known as Marisi, Moriggia, Merigi, and sometimes, simply M. As art critic Robert Hughes has said, "There was art before him and art after him, and they were not the same."Caravaggio threw out Renaissance dogma to paint with dazzling originality and fierce vitality, qualities that are echoed in Robb's prose. As with Caravaggio's art, M arrests and susps time to reveal what the author calls "the theater of the partly seen." Caravaggio's wild persona leaps through these pages like quicksilver; in Robb's skilled hands, he is an immensely attractive character with an astonishing connection to the glories and brutalities of life.

Customer Reviews:

a very impressive book.......2007-09-03

Even though the historical part of the book seems to be disputable, the part devoted to M.'s paintings is extremely well written. The broad public needs more books like this one. The book was written with skill and true passion.

Is the world flat ?.......2006-09-29

It might have appeared so in Carravagio's day but like Robb, he was not intimidated by so called dusty 'scholars' and 'fusspots'. Carravagio's 'style' and his rejection of the establishment are what make his work so interesting today. There is no doubt Carravagio's work was wildly controversial in his time. Robb dissects the evidence, such as it is, and invites conclusions in a direct manner from the reader. The fact that Robb's book has drawn a response from `noted historians', 'grammar nerds' and other sundry 'desk polishers' is a credit to the work. Carravagio, if he were around today might give a wry twinkle of a smile to one of his subjects.

Robb includes well-selected and compelling illustrations in the book to aid his view. He does not mess around. Robb goes straight for the aorta of the reader. Carravaggio wasn't popular with his recklessness and Robb has a get there quick style that leaves the scholars and critics in his dust.

Hitler said, " A man with no sense of history is a man with no ears". Robb has a sense of history in spades. So called 'historians' and flat-earthers will no doubt continue to criticise, like the Vatican in Carravaggio's day. Gallileo had imagination, so does Robb. The earth was not flat. Gallileo was right. The Vatican and its legions of scholars, scribes and `dust collectors' were wrong. Read the book. Ignore the pseudo intellectuals. *****

A Masterpiece.

Pure Imagination.......2006-01-08

As Amazon organizes reviews by date, the sole review (writen by noted Caravaggio scholar David Stone) which attacks this book for its unscholarly tendency to unashamedly make things up is buried deep on the last page. Therefore, I thought I'd add another to make this fact a little more visible to the casual shopper. A few others have noted the appalling grammar and syntax, but the real crime is the baselessness of Robb's conclusions. Does no one care about evidence any more? Do none of you who loved this book find anything wrong with Robb's practice of examining complex, vague, and contradictory sources, choosing the most dramatic answer possible, and presenting it as an irrefutable truth? Caravaggio was an unconventional, brilliant man who lived a wild and crazy life--stick with the evidence and you'll still be amazed.

A Superlative Read!.......2005-09-26

This book has it all - erudition, polemics, irreverence, controversy, intrigue, irony, eroticism, romance, depravity... the list is endless! Meticulously researched and annotated, soundly argued and reasoned, Mr. Robb is a gracious champion to the very complex artist who is historically reduced to a one-dimensional churl who happened to have a way with a paint-brush.

Caravaggio was a pioneer (a very dangerous occupation during the counter-reformation), - the manner in which he approached his subjects, the lighting (or relative lack there-of), his refusal to sketch out a work before painting it, his perspective, his "earthy" handling of religious themes; these approaches became both his claim to fame, and his downfall. A downfall facilitated by jealous contemporaries, greedy art collectors, and Caravaggio's own sexual and social indiscretions.

Not a light read by any means - make sure your thinking cap is well positioned, and your seat belt is tightly fashioned - you're in for one hell of a ride!

A thrilling story and a great art book.......2003-01-11

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").

Customer Reviews:

michelangelo unbound.......2001-06-13

This book is the unveiling of Michelangelo's unappreciated genius. The glory of the cleaned and restored Sisten Chapel bursts forth in the high quality pictures throughout the book. Because it was written by an artist, there are lovely little bits and pieces one does not normally find (such as a page of faces . . .). I was so smitten with this book that I read it cover to cover in one evening. It is well written, clear, concise, and understandable without being condescending. This collection of picutres of the restored Sistine Chapel is wonderful. It surpassed all my expectations.

michelangelo unbound.......2001-06-13

STUNNING.......2000-07-10

This book was illustrated after the Sistine Chapel was cleaned and Michelangelo's vibrant colors were brought back for us to enjoy. The author gives a short history of Michelangelo's life, places him in the context of the rennaisance that he was such a major part of. She shows some of his other works, but this is all unimportant. What is the grabbing point of this book are the photographs of the Sistine Chapel after the cleanning. The colors that glow from the paintings Michelangelo did are so beautiful and unexpected from what we have seen of the Chapel before the cleaning. Michelangelo's genuis shows through at last and this book gives you the chance to enjoy every bit of it. The photography is excellent and for such a small price the whole beauty of the ceiling is yours to enjoy over and over. I highly recommend this jewel of a book.

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