Sixteenth-century Rome was a dangerous place for a man to live in.
Caravaggio's life was a giddy succession of patrons and lovers, intrigues and stratagems, but above all he worked incessantly to create some of the world's greatest masterpieces of art. By nineteen he had finished his apprenticeship, escaped from murderers, survived the plague, and lived both in luxury and in poverty.
His genius brought him the admiration and lavish patronage of nobles and churchmen, but his recklessness ultimately brought him suffering and exile.
More than a story of the extraordinary and adventurous life of a great artist and the great, brawling city of Renaissance Rome, Caravaggio is a novel about the beauty, pain and complexity of being human.
'Robert Payne writes wonderfully well. His description of a great artist struggling to express himself despite social difficulties and the weaknesses of his own character is movingly impressive' - The Sydney Herald
'Brilliantly brought to life against the colourful backdrop of Renaissance Rome' - Manchester Evening News
'Payne has recreated a gallery of vivid historical personalities' - Sunday Telegram
'Mr Payne has got into his skin very convincingly. He evokes the sights and colours and people of the time with a vividness that sustains the illusion that we are seeing them all through the eyes of an artist driven by a powerful talent' - Southern Evening Echo
Robert Payne (1911-1983) was the author of many notable works, including The Rise and Fall of Stalin, The Life and Death of Lenin and The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. Born in England, he was a constant world traveller, a keen observer, but always the biographer, historian, novelist, poet and translator. Caravaggio is a fictional biography written in the first person.
Genre: Historical
Caravaggio's life was a giddy succession of patrons and lovers, intrigues and stratagems, but above all he worked incessantly to create some of the world's greatest masterpieces of art. By nineteen he had finished his apprenticeship, escaped from murderers, survived the plague, and lived both in luxury and in poverty.
His genius brought him the admiration and lavish patronage of nobles and churchmen, but his recklessness ultimately brought him suffering and exile.
More than a story of the extraordinary and adventurous life of a great artist and the great, brawling city of Renaissance Rome, Caravaggio is a novel about the beauty, pain and complexity of being human.
Praise for Robert Payne:
'Robert Payne writes wonderfully well. His description of a great artist struggling to express himself despite social difficulties and the weaknesses of his own character is movingly impressive' - The Sydney Herald
'Brilliantly brought to life against the colourful backdrop of Renaissance Rome' - Manchester Evening News
'Payne has recreated a gallery of vivid historical personalities' - Sunday Telegram
'Mr Payne has got into his skin very convincingly. He evokes the sights and colours and people of the time with a vividness that sustains the illusion that we are seeing them all through the eyes of an artist driven by a powerful talent' - Southern Evening Echo
Robert Payne (1911-1983) was the author of many notable works, including The Rise and Fall of Stalin, The Life and Death of Lenin and The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. Born in England, he was a constant world traveller, a keen observer, but always the biographer, historian, novelist, poet and translator. Caravaggio is a fictional biography written in the first person.
Genre: Historical
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