How many lovers, male or female, did Caravaggio have? Well, it’s hard to tell, but there was one he must have loved above all the rest. Her name was Lena Antognetti, and he got into some very serious trouble because of her. In Joe Friggieri’s new play, Caravaggio: L-inkjesta at the Manoel Theatre on 19, 20, 21 October at 7.30pm, the part is played by Moira Muscat, who has made a name for herself as one of Malta’s most talented stage and television actresses.

Lena was being courted by a young lawyer, Mariano Pasqualone (Mariano Said), who had already asked her mother a number of times whether he could marry her and always got no for an answer. The mother (Marlene Psaila) was a simple woman who shuddered at the idea of giving her daughter to lawyers who all went straight to hell.

The young man was annoyed at being rejected and tracked the girl’s movements everywhere. He noticed that she often went to Caravaggio’s house and stayed there for some time, since he was painting her. Blinded by jealousy he ran into her mother one day and said to her: “My good woman, you can keep that beautiful daughter of yours. You won’t let me marry her, and then you go and take her to that scum of a painter and let him do what he wants with her. You made a great choice and it shows the type of woman you are. You refuse her to someone like me for a wife and give her to that damned heretic as a concubine. Well, you can keep her now. Good luck!”

The woman went straight round to Caravaggio’s house and burst into tears. Furious at what had happened – “and he was a very violent tempered man” – Caravaggio (Manuel Cauchi) went to look for the young lawyer. He found him in Piazza Navona and hit him with a sword. The lawyer presented himself to the criminal court and showed them a fresh wound in the left side of his head “with much bleeding”, claiming that he was “murderously attacked” by Caravaggio and begging the court to dismiss him “so I can get some medical treatment”.

After this shameful encounter Caravaggio fled to Genova to escape arrest. Three weeks later he was back in Rome, the affair having been settled out of court.

Lena Antognetti, Caravaggio’s lover, became the Pilgrims’ Madonna in one of Caravaggio’s Roman masterpieces.

The play is sponsored by Heritage Malta and forms part of the events commemorating the fourth centenary of Caravaggio’s Maltese experience.

Booking is open at the Manoel Theatre Booking office on Tel: 2124 6389.