ISBN: PB: 9781857097207
Yale University Press, National Gallery London
April 2024
56 pp.
23,4x16,2 cm
34 colour illus.
PB:
12.99 GBP
QTY:
Categories:
Last Caravaggio
A focus on Caravaggio's last work, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, telling the story of an empowered female saint.
In early May 1610, Caravaggio finished painting The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula. Two months later, he was dead, having been disfigured in a brawl and become ill while trying to return from exile to Rome.
Caravaggio is one of the most famous and instantly recognisable artists in the world. His paintings open a vivid and startlingly modern window onto the seventeenth century, while his own turbulent life story, characterised by violence, murder, exile, and untimely death, remains a source of fascination. Few paintings are better placed to tell this story than The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula. Here, violence takes place at uncomfortably close quarters as Caravaggio, whose own self portrait is included, looks on helplessly.
In early May 1610, Caravaggio finished painting The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula. Two months later, he was dead, having been disfigured in a brawl and become ill while trying to return from exile to Rome.
Caravaggio is one of the most famous and instantly recognisable artists in the world. His paintings open a vivid and startlingly modern window onto the seventeenth century, while his own turbulent life story, characterised by violence, murder, exile, and untimely death, remains a source of fascination. Few paintings are better placed to tell this story than The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula. Here, violence takes place at uncomfortably close quarters as Caravaggio, whose own self portrait is included, looks on helplessly.
About the author
Francesca Whitlum-Cooper is acting curator of Later Italian, Spanish and 17th-century French Paintings at the National Gallery, London.