The places and mysteries of Caravaggio in Sicily: a book by Paolo Jorio and Rossella Vodret

We receive and publish the following review on the book Places and Mysteries of Caravaggio by Paolo Jorio and Rossella Vodret.

Milan, Rome, Naples, Malta, Syracuse, Messina, perhaps Palermo and then Naples again. These first, concise words with which Luoghi e misteri di Caravaggio (Places and Mysteries of Caravaggio) is presented, where Merisi’s Sicilian itinerary is questioned, are enough to expect (at last, it would be appropriate to say) a punctual biography of him updated to the latest acquisitions. Expectation that at least in part will turn out to be expected, as will be seen. Authors of the little book (170 pp., 21x15 cm) published by Cairo, are the multifaceted Paolo Jorio (journalist, radio man ... and director of two Neapolitan museums) and art historian and Caravaggist scholar Rossella Vodret. For linattesa couple, this is the second book by four hands after Il mistero dell’angelo perduto, a novel inspired by Merisi’s lost St. Matthew and the Angel.

Places and Mysteries of Caravaggio frames the historical and political period in which the painter lived and leads to the discovery of the dark corners, streets, customs, taverns that he frequented with friends and prostitutes, the palaces of those who protected him, the houses where he lived, the environments that were the scene of his aggressions and that saw him as the protagonist of an intense and irregular existence A fascinating itinerary full of mysteries that is intertwined, inextricably, with his work. A captivating description this, once again here taken to follow from the cover page, from which it is also clear how the register adopted is popularizing, while not wanting to disregard in its intentions the scientific data.

The cover of the book Places and Mysteries of Caravaggio

However, it is by undertaking the reading that one realizes how the work in question does not differ much from others in circulation, at least in certain respects. On the one hand, one undoubtedly appreciates the historical frameworks mentioned above, certainly of great use to the reader who is about to learn more about Caravaggio as a man of his time, in the cities he visited, as well as an artist. At the same time, it misses an opportunity to once and for all clear the air of certain anecdotal stories, particularly about the models used (women first and foremost), based on documents that, as has already been shown, are unreliable. Theme moreover, that of models, which has been one of the fortunes of the immersive exhibition Caravaggio. Beyond the Canvas, curated by Vodret herself, in whose wake the volume in question seems to place itself.

If, therefore, feeding laspect of mysteries plays into the hands of the generalist and enthusiast audience, to whom the book is mainly addressed, at the editorial level one senses a certain and albeit minimal gestational complexity: the two signatures, coordinating and each bringing to bear their own expertise (as a writer the one and as a connoisseur of Merisi the other), evidently had the goodness to keep up with the discoveries that were being published in itinere in the studies, sometimes then leaving traces of interventions in the text (some references are skipped and, conversely, repetitions are found). Nonetheless, in its straightforward language, the writing is very fluent. Moreover, limited is the use of notes, mostly used to specify the locations of paintings; hence, the narrative does not grant references to specific bibliography (but at the end of everything there is a general one). No illustrations also appear, but it can be said that Caravaggio’s paintings have now entered a kind of collective iconographic heritage.

In conclusion, Places and Mysteries of Caravaggio arrives on bookstore shelves anyway placing itself immediately and by right among popular readings as the one most up-to-date and attentive to new information on Merisi, which sometimes struggles to make itself known. The reader will be surprised in picking it up and, of course, appreciate it.

Paolo Jorio, Rossella Vodret
Places and mysteries of Caravaggio
Cairo Publisher, 2018
170 pages
13,00 €

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