Ruth Leon recommends… Caravaggio in Three Paintings – National Gallery

Caravaggio in Three Paintings – National Gallery

 Curator of Later Italian, Spanish, and French 17th-century Paintings, Letizia Treves,  guides us through the tumultuous life of Caravaggio.  She looks at how his innovative style developed from a focus on nature and expression in his early works to the sophistication of his mature works.

I love Treves’ unselfconscious style of presentation. She talks about Caravaggio’s life and style without affectation, her presentation informed only by her demonstrable passion for her subject, without notes, although she has notes in her hand which she never looks at, without theatricality except that which is lent to her talk by her urgent urge to communicate what she knows to us.

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