the glory of caravaggio

Last night I finished an excellent book about the finding of a lost painting of Michelangelo Caravaggio. It is written by Jonathan Harr, who also wrote "A Civil Action" about a water contamination case against the town of Woburn, MA. I read that book and saw the quite excellent movie. This book, "The Lost Painting" is about the search for and discovery of one of Caravaggio's most famous paintings, "The Taking of Christ" (1602). Harr weaves a great tale of brilliant research, dogged detective work, serendipity, egos, and ultimate triumph. He has a great story to relate with a fascinating cast of characters and he does it superbly well. "The Taking" is now in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.l

My only face-to-face with Caravaggio was at the Pitti Palace in Florence in 2007. I had done a bit of reading about the holdings in that spectacular museum and was looking for "The Sleeping Cupid", its only work by Caravaggio. I searched every gallery and couldn't find it. I asked one of the (bored) guards and was pointed down a hall through three or four collections. There, in a small room with rather dim light was this exquisite painting. It was hung at about eye level (for me) and seemed to glow in the light. I stood for probably 10 minutes looking at it, trying to see everything on the canvas. I left and went out into an indoor courtyard in the middle of the museum where visitors could sit and rest. After a while I went back and looked at it again. There he slept, lying on one wing, the other barely visible as an arc above his right shoulder, his lips slightly parted to show his tiny teeth. Its sweetness and innocence, the vulnerability of the worn-out Cupid moved me to tears.