Shadow Painters

No age has mastered the art of staging like the Baroque – and none has produced such influential opponents: the Italian Caravaggio and the Spaniard Diego Velázquez rebelled against beautiful appearances. They defy colourful extravagance with a look at the darker side of life. Kia Vahland vividly talks about the lives and works of these two epochal painters and places their unruly paintings in the context of their time. In the process, it becomes clear that the present also has a lot in common with the virtuoso art of the 17th century.

A selection of the paintings discussed in the book:
Johannes Vermeer: Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), around 1663
Peter Paul Rubens: The Honeysuckle Bower, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, around 1609
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: ceiling fresco in the Würzburg Residence, 1752/53
Ludovico Cardi (Cigoli): The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception in the dome of the Cappella Paolina in Santa Maria Maggiore (excerpt)
Caravaggio: The Cardsharps, Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, Texas), 1594/95
Caravaggio: Death of the Virgin, Musée du Louvre (Paris), 1605/06
Caravaggio: The Supper at Emmaus, Pinacoteca di Brera (Milan), 1606
Diego Velázquez: The Waterseller of Seville, Wellington Museum (London), around 1620
Diego Velázquez: Portrait of King Philip IV of Spain, Metropolitan Museum (New York), 1624
Diego Velázquez: Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares, Museo de Arte (Sao Paulo), 1624
Diego Velázquez: Portrait of Sebastián de Morra, Museo del Prado (Madrid), 1643-44

»The rivalry between the Italian Caravaggio and the Spaniard Diego Velázquez is told by Kia Vahland in her usual expert, lively and exciting way, complete with brawls and intrigues. And she shows what the present has in common with the virtuoso art of the 17th century.« Silke Hohmann, monopol – Magazin für Kunst und Leben

»Art historian and art critic [Kia Vahland] breathes life into the Old Masters and succeeds in explaining, interpreting and illuminating distant epochs such as the Baroque and Renaissance in such a way that you can feel the passion while you read... An enjoyable and educational book.« Barbara Hein, ART Magazin

»[Art historian Kia Vahland] gives a literary and extremely lively account of the lives and works of these two unconventional painters.« Michael Köhler, Deutschlandfunk

»Kia Vahland’s language is clear and straightforward. Refusing to lose herself in self-absorbed formulations, she calls things by their name – often with a lovely hint of irony.« Nicola Kuhn, Tagesspiegel (Laudatio on the occasion of the Critics’ Prize of the HBS Cultural Foundation 2015)