How did Caravaggio escape?

Caravaggio must have roped in external help to organise his dare-devil escape from Fort St Angelo, where he had been imprisoned, Keith Sciberras, lecturer at the Art Unit, Faculty of Architecture of the University of Malta said.

"If not directly in helping him climb down the walls of St Angelo, he must have been assisted in speedily finding a boat that could take him secretly out of the island.

"I do not believe that Caravggaio was detained in the famous rock-cut `guva` of St Angelo. He was held somewhere else. This makes his flight less dramatic, less spectacular.

"There is no evidence that can directly point accusing fingers at those who helped him. Some scholars hold that Caravaggio was helped by the Grand Master himself, or by the General Fabritio Sforza Colonna.

"I doubt this very much," Dr Sciberras said in an interview.

Research by Dr Sciberras into the 15-month sojourn in Malta of one of the most influential artists ever, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, has also, unearthed the reason for his imprisonment here.

That reason has been the cause of scholarly assumptions, which are now laid to rest by Dr Sciberras.

Caravaggio, born in 1571 in the Lombard town after which he is known - Caravaggio - is considered one of the most intense painters of the 17th century, renowned for his chiaroscuro technique.

He took that technique to new heights, particularly with his largest canvas, `The Beheading of St John the Baptist` painted in Malta for the Oratory of the Decollato in St John`s Co-Cathedral, the former conventual church of the Order of the knights of St John, where it hangs today.

Through painstaking research and a considerable amount of detective work in the archives of the Order of St John held at the National Library in Valletta, Dr Sciberras has discovered that the reason for Caravaggio`s imprisonment was his involvement in a brawl in which a member of the Order was seriously injured.

Until this discovery, scholars were unsure about the real reason why Caravaggio had been imprisoned. Several contemporary scholars had been propagating the theory that Caravaggio must have been involved in a sexual assault on a fellow knight.

This theory was partly based on the fact that no documentation was available about the reason for Caravaggio`s imprisonment, and by taking the reasoning further, several biographers felt that the crime committed by the painter must have been an `unmentionable` one.

Scholars allege that Caravaggio harboured homosexual inclinations, judging by his treatment of young men in such works done in Rome, such as `Boy with a Basket of Fruit`, `Boy Bitten by a Lizard`, `Boy Peeling Fruit`, `Musicians` and `Lute Player`.

The document from which Dr Sciberras elicited the definitive details is a judicial report dated August 27, 1608.

The report states that in mid-August of that year, there was a street fight in Valletta involving at least seven knights.

The incident continued inside a house where a knight, Giovanni Roero, was seriously injured, probably by pistol shots. The commission set up to look into the incident managed to identify Caravaggio as one of those who took part in the fracas, and the painter was imprisoned.

However, Caravaggio, who had come to Malta when in trouble with the authorities in Rome, managed to escape and fled to Sicily, breaking one of the strictest rules of the Order of St John, which was not to leave the island without the written permission of the grand master.

On December 1, 1608, the case against Caravaggio was heard in his absence and he was expelled from the Order, which labelled him "putrid and fetid".

Even Caravaggio`s escape throws open a whole debate about how the temperamental genius managed to leave Fort St Angelo and be spirited away to Sicily, Dr Sciberras said.

Dr Sciberras explained how he came across the till now unclear details explaining the reason for Caravaggio`s imprisonment, though the document in the archives must have been seen by other researchers.

"The details must have eluded other researchers because they were crossed out. By picking a word here and there and comparing them with other documents, I was able to put this fact together," said Dr Sciberras.

This discovery has been applauded by various cultural institutions in Italy and remarked upon by RAI television and the Italian print media, including Il Sole-24 Ore. Dr Sciberras has given talks about his discovery in Naples, at the Fondazzione Longhi in Florence and at Palazzo Barberini in Rome.

Caravaggio become a knight of obedience of the Order of St John after winning the favour of Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt, having painted the grandmaster`s full-length portrait which now hangs at the Louvre in Paris.

Dr Sciberras has been nominated to sit on the scientific committee of the 2004 Caravaggio exhibition being organised by the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the National Gallery in London and the Capodimonte Museum in Naples.

Meanwhile, the Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell`Arte Roberto Longhi of Florence has commissioned him to write a book about Caravaggio.

Moreover, Dr Sciberras has been invited to lecture on his discovery at the Courtauld Institute, University of London, on May 14.

Caravaggio at first worked in Rome protected by cardinals and merchants, but had to flee the city in 1606 after committing murder in a brawl.

He sought new protection in Naples, where his outstanding success made him even more sought after and in 1607 unexpectedly travelled to Malta.

Yet, despite the apparent stability that the artist found in Malta, his stormy character brought him again into conflict with the Order`s codes of honour.

After escaping from Malta to Sicily, Caravaggio sought to obtain papal pardon for his Rome crime. Arriving in Naples late in 1609 he was brutally assaulted and badly wounded.

He recovered under the protection of the Sforza-Colonna family and set sail in the summer of 1610, probably for Rome, but did not make it to the eternal city because of his untimely death during that voyage.