Previously unknown Caravaggio painting discovered

[donm]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/previously-unknown-carava_n_880931.html

bonus points if you notice the skull in the background.

[Elwell]

I'd be interested in the technical notes on the restoration and the details of the provenance that back this up. Because, just looking at the painting, I ain't convinced. Finding "lost" Caravaggios is a fad among art historians these days.

[Andrew Sonea]

I saw this yesterday at the Caravaggio exhibit in Ottawa. To be honest I wasn't as impressed with it as some of the other paintings he did.

Overall I thought it was a good show and worth seeing, even if the artists other than Caravaggio that were represented were for the most part much weaker than him.

[Wooly ESS]

I'm with Elwell. I'd like to see some of the technical support for the assertion that this is a Caravaggio.

[blogmatix]

I'd be interested in the technical notes on the restoration and the details of the provenance that back this up. Because, just looking at the painting, I ain't convinced. Finding "lost" Caravaggios is a fad among art historians these days.

The reproduction is a bit small, but it doesn't look much like a Caravaggio to me either. Perhaps it's one he painted when he was in second grade or something. ;-)

[Stoat]

David Franklin, director of the Cleveland Museum of Art and co-author of the book, said the work "shows a side of Caravaggio perhaps that is not as drastic and antagonistic as usual," adding, "Maybe that's why it hadn't been known."

Yeah, or maybe it's not a Caravaggio. Count me in the "nuh-uh" camp -- he was better than that.

This New Yorker article (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/07/12/100712fa_fact_grann) on the man who keeps finding fingerprints on masterpieces is fascinating (and possibly germane). It's a long read, but it gets more interesting about halfway through.

[Black Spot]

This won't be part of my collection when I become an international art thief.

[kev ferrara]

Dweebs can't be trusted.