It was one of those coincidences that I call destiny.
Destiny as in a pleasant surprise.
Netflix presented a new adaptation of the Patricia Hammersmith’s novel “The talented Mr Ripley” by the director Steven Zaillian in the spring of 2024.
The version contains 8 black and white episodes with the brilliant Andrew Scott in the role of Tom Ripley.
In one of the episodes the considerably less talented and much richer character Dickie Greenleaf introduces Tom Ripley to the Italian painter of the 17th century, Caravaggio (“The Seven Works of Mercy” in a church in Naples).
Later in the series Tom appreciates the work of the artist in Galleria Borghese in Rome and in the final episode Caravaggio’s spirit mysteriously appears trying to escape the chasing Maltese Knights.
The presence of one of the greatest masters of the Renaissance
in a 2024 movie magically coincided with the exhibition of
his last painting ” The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula”
in the National Gallery in London.
The history of the painting is as twisted and troubled as the life of its creator.
In spring of 1610 the Genoese nobleman Marcantonio Doria, through his business agent in Naples, commissioned Caravaggio to compose a religious canvas on the subject of Saint Ursula.
At this time the artist lived in Naples as a fugitive, waiting for the Pope to pardon him for the murder he committed four years earlier in Rome.
Caravaggio worked fast and delivered the commissioned art work to the agent on time.
Now we know that the agent Lanfranco Massa left the picture of Saint Ursula in the sunshine for a day in order to send it to his employer “perfectly dry” then he shipped it to Genoa in May 1610.
And then the painting vanished.
Two months later Caravaggio was dead.
Therefore “The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula” acquired the status of “the last painting” and also “the lost one” for nearly four centuries.
Until 1980.
The story began when an art historian Vincenzo Pacelli received a tip-off that the state archives of Naples kept papers of the Doria family (Remember, the Genoese Prince).
Indeed, Pacelli discovered two letters written by the already mentioned agent Massa to his boss Doria dated 11th and 27th May 1610.
The letters undoubtedly confirm that Caravaggio painted ““The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula”.
Pacelli and Fernando Bologna, an art historian, with interest and expertise in the works of Caravaggio, wrote an article about the discovery in a quarterly journal Prospettiva specialising in ancient and modern art history in 1980.
The true identity of the author of “the lost painting” was revealed to the world.
Where was the painting located during these long 370 years?
Understandably, after exposure to the sun, the canvas arrived in not very good condition in Genoa in 1610.
It stayed with the Doria family until some of the family members moved back to Naples in and took the painting with them in 1832. The masterpiece belonged to the interior decoration of their Palazzo Doria D’Angri for years.
At the beginning of 20th century the villa was acquired by a family called Romana-Avezzano. In 1963 the picture of Saint Ursula was displayed at an exhibition in Naples, somehow “undercover”, as it was credited to another artist.
In 1973 the painting was bought by the Banca Commercial Italiana as the work of one of the Caravaggio’s followers, Maria Preto (1613- 1699) from Calabria.
In 1999 Banca Commercial Italiana merged with Banca Intesa Sanpaolo and the masterpiece of Caravaggio found its new owners.
They organised public access to the painting by displaying it in the Galleria d’Italia on Via Toledo in Rome.
1 Comment
На въпроса ще отговоря след поредицата от публикации, която очаквам с нетърпение. Чудесно е в рутината да се появи интелектуално предизвикателство!