I Caravaggeschi Percorsi e protagonisti Editors: Alessandro Zuccari Collection: Arte antica Publisher: Skira Category: Special offers, Ancient Art, Language: Italian Year: 2010 Isbn: 888491282 Dimensions: 24 x 28 cm Pages: 864 Colour illustrations: 700 Volumes: 2 (IBRArtBooks)

The most complete publication to date on the complex story of the Caravaggesque style.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) is probably the most admired, studied and universally known painter of 17th century Italy. Every knows the legend of this cursed and hot-tempered painter, who was rejected by the Roman Curia for his paintings, which were considered to be inappropriate and even scandalous. However, a more complete picture of this artist – as the skilful director of a career fostered and protected by influential cardinals and important nobles families – has been known for some time now, in all its complexity. Although many questions still remain regarding Caravaggio’s body of work, it is certain that he never formed a proper school or studio. Caravaggio did however have a substantial circle of followers throughout Europe, an unofficial school formed by those who knew him personally and were in direct contact with his works, and also by those who discovered his work following his death.

• Published on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio death, this much-anticipated opus examines the work of the artists considered to be direct followers of Caravaggio, such as Bartolomeo Manfredi. It also takes into account the other painters who supported the Caravaggesque movement in the first decades of the seventeenth-century. It also explores artists who assimilated certain aspects of the style as well as numerous foreign Caravaggesque artists from France through to Flanders and Spain.
• Important technical details and updated bibliographical information are included for all the paintings in the book.
• A landmark of Western art history, and an ‘opera’ in size price, and scope: the most complete publication to date on the complex story of the Caravaggesque style, the backbone of the Baroque era: it will appeal to historians, critics, collectors, antique dealers, and anyone interested in classic art.

Alessandro Zuccari, professor of History of Modern Art at Università La Sapienza, Roma, is curator and essayist