Caravaggio's Magdalene claim met by surprise

It seems Malta has been gripped by Caravaggio fever over the past weeks and that the turbulent Italian artist, famous for his grandiose chiaroscuro paintings, cannot stop making headlines and sending heads reeling.

Last Wednesday's item in The Times regarding the tentative attribution to the artist of a painting representing Mary Magdalene, currently hanging in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Valletta, has been met by surprise from quarters involved in art history and the heritage.

When contacted, art historian Keith Sciberras said: "The painting can never be by Caravaggio. It was painted more than 200 years after his death.

"It is a 19th century painting that does not fit within the stylistic, technical and contextual characteristics of Caravaggio's work.

"One ought to be careful when it comes to highlighting such attributions to Caravaggio because the public can easily get carried away by such hypothetical attributions. The Maltese context mentioned by 17th century writer Bellori and quoted in Wednesday's piece certainly does not refer to this painting.

"I strongly believe that whoever had passed on to Bellori information regarding the existence of a Magdalene by Caravaggio in Malta could have been mistaken. In any case, if that picture really existed, it cannot be this one."

Mario Buhagiar, head of the university's history of art programme, agrees.

Daniela Apap Bologna, curator at St John's Co-Cathedral, in Valletta, affirmed, when contacted, that there is no known documented association between the painting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and St John's.

"That picture was never in the chapel of the langue of Italy and it is not by Caravaggio. The connection between Mary Magdalene and the langue of Italy is in a picture donated by Fra Ippolito Malaspina which is not by Caravaggio but is a copy after Correggio," she noted.

Caraffa Stores, in Vittoriosa are presently hosting an exhibition of 68 digital life-size transparencies of paintings by Caravaggio.

The exhibition, brimming with allure and representing the majority of works by this stupendous artist and called Caravaggio - The Impossible Exhibition, was put together by RAI, the Italian state broadcasting station.

It was labelled The Impossible Exhibition because of the sheer task involved in attempting to assemble under one roof all those works in their original format.

Dr Sciberras will be delivering a lecture on Caravaggio's Malta: Reflections and Discoveries on Tuesday at 7.30 p.m. at Caraffa Stores. The lecture will deal with Dr Sciberras' insight into Caravaggio's tumultuous life. The lecture is one of a series of talks on the artist in conjunction with the exhibition Caravaggio: Una Mostra Impossibile.

There is an entry fee of Lm3 for each lecture to be delivered every Tuesday till the end of June. For further information go to www.caravaggio.com.