RAI exhibition of Caravaggio works being shown at Vittoriosa

A RAI exhibition made up of actual size reproductions of works by Michelangelo Merisi di Caravaggio will be displayed in May and June at Caraffa Stores in Vittoriosa.

Caravaggio - La Mostra Impossibile (Caravaggio - The Impossible Exhibition) is made up of digital transparencies of 68 of the master's works. It is so-called because it is considered impossible to get all the known works by the great master into the same place.

Suspended from a high-tech structure, the transparencies will be backlit by four spotlights. Six halls on three floors of the newly restored Caraffa Stores, built during the magistracy of Gregorio Caraffa, have been turned into a haven for art lovers. The 17th century stores are one of the largest on the Vittoriosa Waterfront and originally served as private quarters for two captains of the Order of St John's larger vessels and for stores and as warehouses in the ground floor.

Former Museums director Marius Zerafa, OP, said the paintings were being grouped both chronologically and according to subject. For example the two Supper at Emmaus - one of which is displayed at Milan's Pinacoteca di Brera, the other at London's National Gallery - are being put next to each other so that people can compare them. The two paintings were completed in 1601 and 1606 respectively.

In another area, three paintings depicting three biblical women - Mary Magdalene (Conversion of the Magdalene), St Catherine (St Catherine of Alexandria) and Judith (Judith Beheading Holofernes) - have been grouped together, showing their similarities.

Fr Zerafa said the three women in these paintings are all said to be based on the Roman prostitute Fellide Melandroni.

Another hall is being dedicated to paintings with a musical theme.

The exhibition has been brought to Malta on the initiative of the newly set-up Caravaggio Foundation.

Chairman Tonio Fenech said the exhibition would be officially inaugurated on May 1, although it would be open from now to then for school visits.

The exhibition is the first public event organised by the foundation, which was set up two weeks ago.

Dr Fenech said Caravaggio was such a controversial artist that a number of his works were attributed to other artists after his death, and were only discovered recently to have been painted by the Italian master.

The exhibition has already been displayed in Rome, Naples and Salerno, and from Malta will go on to Milan, from where it will move to Moscow's Pushkin's Museum and then on to St Petersburg.

It was the brainchild of RAI's Renato Parascandalo, who had said that the clarity of the backlit images brings out the inner light of the original paintings. He said the X-ray effect makes visible the hidden corrections and cancellations made by the artist, which cannot be seen in the actual works of art.

This is the first of 15 exhibitions being produced by RAI, dedicated to the works of Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Giotto and the ancient Roman frescoes of Pompeii, among others.

Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said there are a number of works in Malta which do not bear Caravaggio's signature. The artist had found refuge in Malta for some years, and left some of his best works, including the famous Beheading of St John the Baptist, at St John's Co-Cathedral.

The exhibition will be open daily except on Mondays between 11 a.m and 7 p.m.

A programme of special events, including talks on the life and works of the artist, musical and dance performances are also being organised.