Yes, the mystery of Caravaggio’s death is reaching its semi-exciting climax as blood drawn from likely decedents of the chiaroscuro painter with the rock-star reputation are even now being compared to DNA samples taken from bones found in the ossuary underneath the church at Porto Ercole on the Tuscan coast, commonly believed his last resting place. And where did ... Read More »
We’ve been touting the upcoming release of our new title, “Art + Travel Europe: Step Into the Lives of Five Famous Painters”, for weeks now. Finally, this unique volume of historical backgrounds, local walking tours, museum reviews, and handy lists of fine eateries and accommodations has been released. At last, world travelers can pick up our trim, portable guidebook ... Read More »
Actually, the nearest place to find a copy of our new “Art + Travel Europe: Step into the Lives of Five Famous Painters” is right on your computer at either Amazon, Barnes & Noble online, Borders, or our own web shop. And, since “Art + Travel” launches on shelves tomorrow, you can also look for it in your favorite ... Read More »
Whether or not they’re wholly truthful, Derek Jarman’s “Caravaggio” and Robert Altman’s “Vincent and Theo” are at least faithful to the stories of the artists they portray—delivering the tone, the feeling of those real lives if not their exact details. Wonderful and effective as they are, these and other films following the histories of these great painters do lack ... Read More »
When he died somewhere on the Tuscan coast in 1610, 38-year-old painter and provocateurMichelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio had already brushed the heights of contemporary artistic fame, struggled through rejection by Roman patrons, fled the law after committing murder, and perhaps found his way back into the aristocracy’s good graces. Somewhere between this talented troublemaker’s first and second acts, death ... Read More »
As residents of a city that is home to arguably the best Modern Art museum—MoMA—the most exciting showcase of natural and historical artifacts—The American Museum of Natural History—and quite possibly the most diverse and comprehensive art museum in the world—the Met—we New Yorkers are often shockingly complacent and ignorant of the creative treasures that lie right under our noses. ... Read More »
When we first started putting together our brand new “Art + Travel Europe: Step into the Lives of Five Famous Painters”—our exhaustively researched guidebook that walks you through the biographies of Vermeer, Van Gogh, Goya, Munch, and Caravaggio via the places they worked and the cities they lived in—we thought we had a pretty high-concept way of documenting the ... Read More »
Ok, it’s not really all that simple or exciting—but it’s more fun this way. See, about 20 years ago, some enterprising burglars with excellent taste broke into Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum disguised as policemen and made off with 13 paintings including three Rembrandts and a Vermeer—a total value of between $250 and $300 million. Not bad for 81 ... Read More »
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