Twelve paintings by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio from Italy and the USA will be brought over to Malta for display in a spectacular exhibition at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta between the end of September and the end of November.
This exhibition will be the highlight of the activities being organized by Heritage Malta to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Michelangelo da Caravaggio in Malta between 1607 and 1608.
This newspaper can reveal for the first the list of the 12 world-famous paintings that will be coming to Malta. Obviously, visitors to the exhibition can then cross the road to view the two other Caravaggio masterpieces in St John’s Cathedral.
The paintings are:
Sacrifice of Isaac
Piasecka-Johnson Collection, Princeton, New Jersey
St Francis in Ecstasy
Piasecka-Johnson Collection, Princeton, New Jersey
St John the Baptist
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Palazzo Corsini, Rome
Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy
Private Collection, Rome
St Francis
Museo Civico di Cremona
St Francis in Meditation
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome
Sacrifice of Isaac
Private Collection, Modena
Decapitation of San Gennaro
Palestrina, Rome
Ecstasy of St Francis
Musei Civici di Udine
Supper in Emmaus
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
Resurrection of Lazarus
Museo Regionale, Messina
Adoration of the Shepherds
Museo Regionale, Messina
This exhibition called “Il Chiaroscuro del Caravaggio: esperjenza ta’ darba, a unique experience”, will truly be an exceptional experience
The vast majority of the paintings being brought to Malta are attributed to Caravaggio. There are also a number of paintings many world-renowned experts insist are the work of this artist who had such a big impact on art.
Dr Tabone, chairman of Heritage Malta, said the fact that paintings attributed to Caravaggio will also be brought over to Malta, will bring to Malta the debate on the style and techniques used by Caravaggio in his paintings. More than anything else, this exhibition will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the Maltese to view a large number of Caravaggio paintings in their own country.
Dr Tabone announced this officially on Tuesday during an event that officially closed the Silent Warriors Exhibition.
Dr Tabone said over 72 thousand people visited the high calibre exhibition, which has been open to the public since March. An average of 550 visitors per day viewed the exhibition.
Heritage Malta, with the assistance of the Italian company Romartificio and Renaissance Productions, has been working on the Caravaggio exhibition for many months. The curators of this exhibition are Sir Denis Mahon and Maurizio Marini while the Scientific Committee includes Mario Buhagiar (University of Malta), Antonio Espinosa Rodriguez (Heritage Malta) and Alexander Debono (Heritage Malta) together with Sir Denis Mahon, Maurizio Marini, Maria Grazia Bernardini, Claudio Strinati, former Italian minister Vittorio Sgarbi and Rossella Vodret.
It is also expected that well-known Arts broadcaster Vittorio Sgarbi will be holding a conference on Caravaggio while in Malta.