Caravaggio in the news as we Commemorate 400th a of death

First a stolen Caravaggio is recovered:

The 17th-century painting The Taking of Christ by Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Caravaggio, stolen from a Ukrainian museum in 2008, has been found in Berlin, Die Welt reported on Monday.

The masterpiece, also known as the Kiss of Judas, was stolen from the Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art in southern Ukrainian city of Odessa. The thieves intended to sell it to the German art collector.



The German newspaper said police in Germany detained three Ukrainian nationals and a Russian when they attempted to hand over the painting to the buyer.

The painting was brought to Odessa at the beginning of the 20th century. It was long believed to be a copy of a Caravaggio, but the authenticity of the work was established in 2005 while the canvas was on exhibit in Spain.

Experts estimate that the painting is worth as much as several tens of million euros.
BERLIN, June 28 (RIA Novosti)

Also of note: a Caravaggio Ipad app

Now, in a bid to make the old master even more contemporary, Italian multimedia company Scala Group International has launched an iPhone and iPad app to spread his chiaroscuro-abetted fame in the Internet age.

Called "CaravaggioMania,” the program provides video tutorials about the artist's life and key works, pop-up images accompanied by explanatory texts, and a map showing the artist's tortured route through Italy, from the Rome of his birth to the Tuscan shore where he died. Other highlights of the package include an interactive 360-degree video of Caravaggio's paintings in Rome's Galleria Borghese and a walking tour of the artist's landmarks in the city. Also included is a GPS map with Caravaggio-themed travel itineraries.

Featuring approximately 300,000 high-resolution images of artworks sourced from museums around the world, from Italy to New York's Museum of Modern Art, the app is available through Apple's iTunes store for $1.99.

And then a New A new Caravaggio Painting May Have Been Found

A new Caravaggio painting may have been found in Rome, ASNA Italian news agency said citing L'Osservatore Romano, a semi-official newspaper of the Holy See.

The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence (Martirio di San Lorenzo) belonging to the Catholic priestly order of the Jesuit has not yet been identified as a work of Caravaggio as further analyses are required before it can be attributed for certain to the Italian master.

The newspaper said, however, the painting has many hallmarks of Caravaggio works including dramatic lighting effects and the unique perspective from which the subject is seen.
It said there were similarities with other artist's paintings, such as a movement of the saint's hand or body but added that no known document mentions St. Lawrence as a subject of Caravaggio's work.

Saint Lawrence of Rome, depicted on the painting, was allegedly burned to death in 258 during a persecution of Christians initiated by the Emperor Valerian
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Italy is marking the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio's death so churches and art galleries and museums housing Caravaggio will be open all night this weekend. The country has also held major exhibitions dedicated to the artist.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born in 1571 in Milan. He pioneered Baroque painting technique and was notoriously famous street brawler, who allegedly killed a man in a row and fled Rome, which much of his short and tortured career was tied to. In Rome the artist won fame and the patronage of aristocrats and cardinals.
Caravaggio mysteriously died on July 18, 1610. Last month Italian anthropologists announced they had found his remains after a year of digging up bones in Porto Ercole and conducting carbon dating, DNA testing and other analyses. Some theories into the painter's death suggest that he was killed on a isolated Tuscan beach or collapsed there due to an illness.

Adam and Eve returned to Mexico

Museum of Art returns stolen painting to Mexico

By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

August 24, 2006

San Diego Museum of Art This is a copy of “Expulsion from the Garden of Eden,” an 18th-century oil painting stolen from a church in Hidalgo, Mexico, and sold to the San Diego Museum of Art. The painting is being returned to Mexico.

Mexican authorities reclaimed an 18th-century painting yesterday that had been stolen from a church and then sold to the San Diego Museum of Art six years ago.

Many questions remain unanswered as to how the painting ended up at the museum. No arrests have been made despite a two-year investigation into how the artwork was smuggled into the United States.

During a news conference yesterday at the Mexican Consulate in San Diego, Mexican authorities thanked museum officials for their cooperation, but no one from the museum was present.

A framed copy of the painting, “Expulsion From the Garden of Eden,” was displayed during the news conference, but the actual artwork had been removed from the museum yesterday morning to be placed on a plane.

Mexican Consul General Diego Luis Cabrera thanked museum officials and U.S. authorities for ensuring the return of “a work of great artistic value.”

The stolen painting in San Diego, as well as an investigation into a former antiquities curator for the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, who is on trial in Rome accused of trafficking in looted artifacts, have brought attention to the international problem of smuggled artwork.

Greek officials are trying to reclaim ancient artifacts held by the Getty museum, which recently agreed to turn over two pieces. And Boston's Museum of Fine Arts has agreed to return to Italy an unspecified number of Italian artworks believed to have been stolen.

In San Diego's case, the stolen painting was linked in Mexico to Rodrigo Rivero Lake, a well-known art dealer and expert, but apparently no charges have been filed against him in Mexico.

U.S. authorities said their investigation in San Diego was ongoing despite a five-year statute of limitations on this case. They didn't say when that would expire.

“The statute of limitations is expiring, but the investigation is still ongoing because we are pursuing other angles,” said Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's San Diego office.

The painting, by an unknown artist, was stolen in 2000 from a Mexican church in the tiny community of San Juan Tepemazalco, in the interior state of Hidalgo. Thieves stole two other paintings from the same church.

The painting came to the museum's attention through a curator hired to help boost their collections. The curator, Marion Oettinger, who later said he wasn't aware the artwork was stolen, put the museum in touch with Rivero, the painting's Mexican vendor.

The museum, under former director Don Bacigalupi, bought the painting in 2000 for an undisclosed price. Yesterday, U.S. and Mexican authorities said in a news release that it had been bought for $45,000.

The Mexican vendor was never identified by the museum, but was determined through other sources to be Rivero.

Cabrera said yesterday that Mexican authorities had interviewed Rivero, but he was unaware of the status of the case.

“It's part of the investigation,” he said. “I don't know if this person is responsible or not . . . for unknowingly buying the artwork.”

Rivero didn't respond to a request for an interview yesterday.

Museum officials said they weren't aware the painting was stolen until it was already in their possession and they did further research.

A new director, Derrick Cartwright, announced stricter policies to verify artworks' origin.

The painting turned out to have been sold to the museum the same year it had been stolen, despite strict Mexican laws that provide little leeway for exporting Spanish Colonial art.

Oettinger told the Union-Tribune in 2004 that he thought the painting was actually in Arizona, being held by an associate of Rivero's.

Cartwright said last night that the museum assisted in the investigation and was eager to have the painting returned to its rightful owners.

“I've been very committed to making sure the museum did the right thing in this case,” he said, adding that the museum prepared a protective crate for the painting's journey back to Mexico.

Mexican authorities said the painting will be turned over to Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History. Cabrera said the Institute will decide with the state of Hidalgo's cultural office where to keep the artwork to ensure its security.

Michael Unzueta, special agent in charge of the San Diego office of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, said the case's outcome is positive because the painting is going back where it belongs.

“The Mexican people can now proudly share this piece of art with the world,” he said.