Caravaggio: The Complete Works Board book – May 4, 2017

The subtitle is actually The Complete Works rather than ...Paintings. Page count is 306, not 480.In black boards with gold lettering, and a beautiful jacket of the head of Judith exemplifying the stunning dimensions of the masterpieces and details within.The book opens with six spreads picturing six head details. The book is printed and sewed (in Italy) with state of the art tolerances and lies flat, but occasionally of course threads or a razor thin line is visible in the center of a spread spanned by an art piece.CONTENTSI Lombard beginnings 1571-1592 page 20II The path to artistic autonomy 1592-1599 page 28III The large religious works in Rome 1599-1606 page 94IV The late oeuvre in Southern Italy: Naples-Malta-Sicily 1606-1610 page 184Epilogue, reflections and refractions page 238Catalogue of Paintings page 242Bibliography page 300Index page 304Acknowledgements, Credits, Imprint page 306All page stock is substantial, semiglossy up through page 242 for utterly convincing color of full and detail reproductions, entailing bleeds or white framing; from page 243 onward, uncoated paper that is a pleasure to the touch and takes the ink very well to reproduce all the pictures again in smaller size, say 3 by 5 inches, for reference as you read the detailed descriptions.The Catalogue first presents Paintings 1-67, in chronological order, and comprising, in the opinion of the author, indubitably autograph works (as well as copies of them). Paintings 68-89 are accepted by some Caravaggio scholars but should be regarded as copies or imitations by other hands; this category includes also potentially autograph works whose appraisal is impaired, for example by their poor state of preservation (nor can absolute chronology be established).The volume includes three foldouts, so you can enjoy a panoramic three-page view of a detail. Some paintings are also shown in their architectural settings. The works of some other artists are included in reduced format to contribute to the scholarly text, which is quite readable in double-column double-spaced format. You will want to lay this big book on a surface for comfortable investigation.MY FOOTNOTES (the book avoids them)This book reached me at the UPS Store in an overlarge box, like it was a 20 inch tv set, and stuffed with air bladders, but those UPS guys ripped into it at my request. The book itself is packed in a tight corrugated cardboard "attache case" with a pullup plastic handle, and is a bitch to open. The long ribbon attached to the book as place marker does leave an indentation on the page it touches during tight storage.

I recently saw all the Caravaggios in Rome, including some brought from other places for a special exhibit, and I can tell you that this gorgeous, beautifully printed book truly does justice to the paintings. It includes not only fold-out pages to show entire paintings without sacrificing too much to the smallness of the medium, but also full-page detail pictures showing just a small portion of the original painting at life-size. The accompanying commentary is excellent, and the author even includes reproductions of other artworks for comparison. If you are a Caravaggio fan, you will be thrilled with this book.

On the basis of the reviews critical of the reproduction quality of this book, I elected to avoid its purchase. Hoping for a good representation of Caravaggio's paintings I acquired the Skira catalog of the recent Rome exhibition. That book is much smaller in dimension and the articles are of varying quality. I subsequently happened to examine a friend's copy of this Taschen edition. While the colors of the reproductions in both books appeared similar, the size, layout and quality of the illustrations in the Taschen issue is vastly superior and far more satisfying. This book also is much more comprehensive in presenting Caravaggio's entire oeuvre and works of uncertain attribution.I have now ordered the Taschen book which, despite its greater cost, is the best Caravaggio book I have encountered and is good value given the excellence of the printing. It is a while since I have had the good fortune to personally examine a Caravaggio painting and cannot guarantee the accuracy of the reproductions. What I did see has given enormous pleasure. While this is a book that one will want especially for the illustrations, the text is worthwhile and informative.

Excellent quality photos, all in color, a number of them fold out. The paper is very good quality. The book is not big, but not too small either. The editors did a fine job with the biography as well.

It does a great job giving the known history of each of Caravaggio's paintings and some that could be his. Color photos of existing works and B&W prints of missing ones and those destroyed in WWII. The dimensions of the book are small, but there are some great fold-outs of his major works. It's a joy.

This book is truly breathtaking, from the front detail to the massive fold out sections with rich and lavish colour. The quality of the paper used in this book is remarkable and worthy of its subject. I was very impressed with the attention to detail from start to finish. Of particualr note is the beautiful details which allow you to see small sections of a work at close range- they took my breath away!My only criticism is that the book is so large and heavy that it makes for a cumbersome read. For example I like to get in bed to read but this book is a little impractical for such activity. In a way the large size is part of the charm however it is also difficult to follow corresponding information about the works as art works occur early in the book whereas the blurb about each piece follows much further along. This means you are constantly flicking betweeen pages to view the art and read the corresponding information about it.Many of my frineds who know nothing about art or Carivaggio have commented on how magnificent this book is as it invites and beckons, even those who are only casually interested in the sublject, to take a closer look. Overall this book takes you on a really wonderful journey of discovery about the great artist's work.

This book is great for everyone, if you enjoy art, this book delivers, great quality of pictures and text it is above and beyond. It's smaller than I would prefer an art book to be but it's detailed and includes all the masterpieces related to Caravaggio.