Two New Books on Caravaggio Offer Fresh Interpretations

Two new books published in 2021 approach Caravaggio from unconventional angles, avoiding direct critical analysis. Riccardo Bassani's "La donna del Caravaggio. Vita e peripezie di Maddalena Antognetti" (Donzelli Editore, Rome) uses microhistory and 116 unpublished documents to focus on Maddalena Antognetti, known as "Lena, woman of Caravaggio," whose public altercation with notary Mariano Pantaloni led to Caravaggio attacking him. Lena, a prostitute living near via del Corso, was recognized by the public in the Madonna of the Pilgrims at Sant'Agostino church. Bassani's research reads like a detective novel, revealing the true reasons for the assault and its high-level mediation. Yannick Haenel's "Solitudine Caravaggio" (Neri Pozza, Milan) centers on the painting Judith Beheading Holofernes, using it as a lens to explore Caravaggio's biography and his relationship with bodies and the world, expressed through color and chiaroscuro. Haenel, co-founder of Ligne de risque and author of "Tieni ferma la tua corona" (2018), avoids the usual cruelty/sensuality binary, instead proposing a metaphysical reading. Both books offer new paths for reinterpreting Caravaggio.