Doubting Thomas: A Novel About Caravaggio - Softcover

Atle Naess

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0720611512 ISBN 13: 9780720611519

Publisher: Peter Owen Ltd, 2001

Synopsis

How could an aggressive, self-destructive and heavy-drinking libertine create an art of genius that united a passionate, sensual nature with a keen sense of observation and even an unorthodox kind of religious devotion? A fascinating and innovative literary detective story based on the life of the renowned Italian painter known as Caravaggio. Doubting Thomas centres on the murky events of a May evening in Rome in 1606. when Caravaggio was challenged to a duel and killed a man. Atle Naess superbly recreates this night using evidence found in the Vatican archives in the form of first-person witness statements from nine people who came in contact with the artist before his flight into exile. Exploring destiny, sensuality, love, brutality, unquestioning religious faith, Doubting Thomas attempts to reveal the line between the sacred and the profane, as well as the reliability of memory.

About this title

Review:

In 1606 the painter Caravaggio became a murderer after a drunken duel in Rome, and here Naess presents nine eyewitness accounts supposedly discovered in the Vaticans archives and used as evidence in Caravaggios trial. What we discover, however, is more than the actions of the painter on this fateful night. The authors of the conflicting and contradictory accounts range from the prostitutes who were his models to his estranged brother and his fellow painters. They tell us much about themselves as they reveal their relationships to Caravaggio and his paintings. And Naess creates a beguiling, fascinating mystery that brings us closer to an era that is beyond our comprehension, a time when heretics were burnt at the stake for suggesting that the sun did not go round the earth. The main account is that of Innocenzo Promontorio, a one-time model for the painter and a keen astronomer. He is captivated by the sensuality and vanity of being Caravaggios model. And yet he sees the painters methods as dubious - for Caravaggio 'placed complete faith in what he saw with his defective human gaze. He did not perceive that the truth comes from God'. But the astronomer's observations in the 'vault of heaven' as well as the painter's in light and shade on canvas marked the beginnings of a clash between old and new. As Caravaggio painted the holy and divine in sensual, physical, and earthly flesh - using the face of a prostitute for the Virgin Mary - Galileo discovered new stars that filled 'scholars all over the Christian world with fear and wonder'. Caravaggios brother sees him as a heretic who puts his own observations before the 'sacred norms of decorum and decency'. Nothing is clear, like the murky shadows on the canvas. The battle between soul and flesh is personified in the man Caravaggio himself; a brawling drunkard, frequenting brothels and prison cells and yet painting images that inspired an almost religious fervour. The account of Innocenzo Promotorio dominates the novel, but we are told that - unlike for the other eyewitnesses - there is no proof that an Innocenzo Promotorio existed . The account may be fabricated or fictionalized, his existence guesswork or speculation. This ambiguity is part of the thematic power of this remarkable novel, a novel that is about the search for truth. The human gaze is 'defective', the eyewitness accounts, like our descriptions of paintings, are contradictory interpretations. This is a perfectly executed and beautifully written depiction of a period 'when uncertainty was the basis of everything'. --Kirkus UK

This fictitious detective story is based on the life of the renowned Italian painter known as Caravaggio. At the centre of the tale are the murky events of a May eveningin Rome in 1606, when Carvaggio was challenged to a duel and killed a man. What was the cause of the fight that resulted in his fleeing Rome and going into exile? The author recreates that night using evidence found in the Vatican archives and the story is in the form of first-person witness statements from nine people who came into contact with the artist before his flight into exile. The book attempts to reveal the line between the sacred and the profane, as well as the reliability of memory, and asks the question how could an aggressive, self-destructive and heavy-drinking libertine create an art of genius that united a passionate, sensual nature with a keen sense of observation and even an unorthodox kind of religious devotion? --Jo Cummins, Jersey Evening Post

About the Author:

Atle Nss was born in Norway in 1948 and is one of that country's foremost writers. He gained cult status with his first novel, Gun, in 1975. Doubting Thomas is his ninth book and was a best-seller in the author's homeland, it has been translated into several European languages.

About this edition

• Publisher: Peter Owen Ltd
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0720611512
• ISBN 13: 9780720611519
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160