Caravaggio's last painting may not be the last | Culture

It is the revelation of the ancient art. “Last caravaggio”. Or the “discovery of caravaggio lost”. Everything that has to do with the Lombard genius is to guarantee queues at an old master museum. The National Gallery in London is exhibiting until July 21 The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (It wasn't the original title, but Saint Ursula felled by the tyrant) and is reminiscent of – as recorded in the stories of the lives of saints and martyrs in the golden legend– the history of the 11,000 virgins led away by a chaste girl on a suicide pilgrimage through Germany.

“When they arrived in Colonia, the Huns attacked them, on that flock of sheep, like butcher's wolves,” says the anthology compiled by Santiago de la Vorágine in the 13th century. In the midst of the carnage, the general of the Huns noticed the beauty of Saint Ursula. If she agreed to become his wife, she would save his life. She refused and stabbed her in the stomach with an arrow that warns the martyr about her body with the calm of the inevitable. Three other figures watch the atrocities in the painting. The saint's attendant tries to stop the arrow with her hand (which turned out after a restoration), a soldier prepares to pick it up in case she faints, and between them appears the face of a young man, thinking about the horror: the self-portrait of genius. Mouth open, perhaps feeling his own pain and a premonition of future death, on a mosquito-infested beach. This is the moment that Caravaggio captures on the canvas exhibited in London, on loan from the Intesa Sanpaolo Bank. He marketing artistic account that is his last work, but doubts arise.

According to documents, the painting was completed on May 11, 1610, two months before the painter's death. “Later it is possible that he painted other works, such as The Denial of Saint Peter [hoy en la colección del Metropolitan de Nueva York]” says Giuseppe Porzio, one of the world's leading experts on Lombard. According to art historian Rossella Vodret in her complete works, this canvas was “illegally exported” to Switzerland in 1964, and from there, after passing through the Shickman Gallery, it arrived at the New York Museum.

The story of The Denial of Saint Peter it is told in the New Testament. It tells, as Jesus prophesied in the garden of Gethsemane when he was arrested, how his disciple Peter would deny him three times before the cock crowed twice. The painter reduces the scene to an interior. Only three characters. On the left, with his face in the shadows, one of Caiaphas' henchmen (high priest). His face, between shadows, and his hands (poorly resolved) are only intuitive. The sleeve cloth is indeterminately red. “Next to him,” writes biographer Andrew Graham-Dixon, “a girl represents the two servants who had interrogated Peter.” His gaze is fixed on the soldier, the incarnations of his face are like spots of a disease (or a poorly rendered fire), and his rough hand, which addresses the apostle, is barely outlined. Peter points to himself, cries and acknowledges that he has failed Jesus. But the master avoids painting the details. The difficult parts are hidden in shadows, gloves or diagonals of the characters. Something's wrong. His wounds are undoubtedly open, his eyesight is poor and his hands are shaking. His physical precision and talent for placing light disappear.

It had only been seven months since Caravaggio had been attacked in the Osteria del Cerriglio, a very famous slum (even Cervantes quotes it) that combined drinking (on the first floor) and prostitution (on the second) of both sexes in Naples. The ghost had wounded a Knight of Justice of Malta during his stay on the island, and these men of “honor” were not inclined to forgive or forget insults.

Caravaggio survived a beating and was “punished” with one vendetta phone call sfregio, during which he was stabbed in the face with a razor. A brand for life. At that time, hairdressers were surgeons and literally sewed up those wounds. Surprise inside Saint Ursula, in his self-portrait, seeing him contemplating the scene without marks on his face, his beard shaved, shocked by the execution (his own horror at not receiving the Pope's mercy for killing the pimp Ranuccio Tomassoni in Rome in 1606 murdered? ) and looks even younger than his 39 years. Was it the look of someone who died 60 days after his death? It was impossible for him to heal. Nothing is known from October 1609 to May 1610. Most likely he hid in the Palazzo Colonna in Chiaia, where he fought for his life with medicine from the 17th century.

He Saint Ursula It undoubtedly corresponds to the artist's second stay (1609-1610) in Naples and was commissioned by Prince Doria, Prince of Angri and Duke of Eboli. “But there is no indication that this was the last painting he painted,” warns expert Nicola Spinosa caravaggist Neapolitan. For years there were doubts about the attribution of the work. From a young Mattia Preti (1613-1699), through the irregular Messina painter Alonzo Rodríguez (1578-1648), to Bartolomeo Manfredi (1582-1622). After the discovery of the documentation of his dedication and the inscription on the back of the initials MAD (Marco Antonio Doria), it was the centenarian expert Mina Gregori who (from 1975) correctly linked him to Caravaggio. The cloth – in a state of conservation that could be improved – had a unique history. Lanfranco Masa, envoy and lawyer of the Doria family, placed it in the sun so that it could dry first. The heat softened the paint “because Caravaggio painted very thick layers,” Masa apologized, and it took the Lombard two weeks to repair his own canvas. He would arrive in Genoa on May 27.

Let's discover the mystery. Two greats from the Caravaggista world leave the door open for the Saint Ursula may not be the last painting of genius. Biographer Helen Langdon believes that this last canvas is a Saint John Baptist (1610) painted for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who had intervened to gain his favor. His forgiveness was assured. Caravaggio traveled with the ship on a felucca en route to Rome and he also had a safe conduct from the Duke of Mantua, Ferdinando Gonzaga. Nothing could go wrong. But everything failed. Accidentally imprisoned in the Spanish garrison of Porto Ercole, he never reached port on the journey to his destination, possibly due to malaria. blood poisoning, a heart attack or unhealed wounds. He died on those beaches, just 50 miles from Rome. Who can imagine Caravaggio's desolation, fear and horror when he could almost touch the redemption of his existence? This was the end of the chiaroscuro genius.

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