BELLAS ARTES

Every year, Bvlgari launches its High Jewelry collection, featuring 150 mesmerizing, one-of-a-kind pieces. This year, the focus of the design is the symbolism and richness of the world of color—a luxurious journey through shapes, hues, and a multitude of creative forms. The colors of gems have always provided a source of inspiration and innovation for Bvlgari. This year’s jewelry collection goes to the roots of the brand famous for forging new creative paths. Bvlgari’s ever-evolving aesthetic goes hand in hand with its commitment to high-end Italian craftmanship. This unique volume presents Bvlgari’s craftmanship and artistry and provides a lavish catalogue at the highest level of the jeweler’s art and contributions of artists exploring the world of colors with their works.

Unmatched in his ingenuity, technical prowess, and curiosity, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) epitomizes the humanistic ideal of the Renaissance man: a peerless master of painting, sculpture, cartography, anatomy, architecture – and more. Simultaneously captivating art historians, collectors, and the millions who flock yearly to admire his works, Leonardo’s appeal is as diffuse as were his preoccupations. His images permeate nearly every facet of Western culture – The Vitruvian Man is engraved into millions of Euro coins, The Last Supper is considered the single most reproduced religious painting in history, and the Mona Lisa has entranced countless artists and observers for centuries.

Caravaggio, or more accurately Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610), was a legend even in his own lifetime. Notorious bad boy of Italian painting, the artist was at once celebrated and controversial: Violent in temper, precise in technique, a creative master, and a man on the run. This work offers a comprehensive reassessment of Caravaggio’s entire œuvre with a catalogue raisonné of his works. Each painting is reproduced in large format, with recent, high production photography allowing for dramatic close-ups with Caravaggio's ingenious details of looks and gestures. Five introductory chapters analyze Caravaggio's artistic career from his early struggle to make a living, through his first public commissions in Rome, and his growing celebrity status. They look at his increasing daring with lighting and with a boundary-breaking naturalism which allowed even biblical events to unfold with an unprecedented immediacy before the viewer.