Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane - Andrew Graham-Dixon Audiobook

Written by Andrew Graham-Dixon
Read by Edoardo Ballerini
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

• Length: 18 hrs and 24 mins
• Release date: 07-16-13
• Publisher: Audible Studios

“Caravaggio is one of art’s bad boys.”

For four hundred years Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s (1571-1610) staggering artistic achievements have thrilled viewers, yet his volatile personal trajectory - the murder of Ranuccio Tomasini, the doubt surrounding Caravaggio’s sexuality, the chain of events that began with his imprisonment on Malta and ended with his premature death - has long confounded historians.

In a bravura performance, Andrew Graham-Dixon delves into the original Italian sources, presenting fresh details about Caravaggio’s sex life, his many crimes and public brawls, and the most convincing account yet published of the painter’s tragic death at the age of thirty-eight. With illuminating readings of Caravaggio’s infamous religious paintings, which often depict prostitutes and poor people, Graham-Dixon immerses readers in the world of Italy at the height of the Counter-Reformation and creates a masterful profile of the mercurial painter’s life and work.

“The writing was a little florid and hyperbolic, but reflected the nature of baroque art and the rollercoaster of Caravaggio’s life. If anyone’s read anything else or seen documentaries about Caravaggio, it seems almost impossible to talk about him without getting overdramatic.”

“I liked the fact that Graham-Dixon explained the findings of other authors about Caravaggio and if there was new evidence on the subject he explained the findings. This was most evident in his discussion about Caravaggio killing a man in Rome and then his flight to Naples and eventually Malta. Of course, Caravaggio produced paintings in all the cities he visited during his flight. He thought his patron had obtained clearance from the Pope to return to Rome but Caravaggio caught a fever on his trip to Rome from Malta and died at Porto Ercole. I wanted to see some of his painting and I found the Caravaggio foundation has them available on the web. “