Detective work is all the more fascinating when it is employed in the world of art.

Painstaking research is not only done to weed out copyists who fake works of art but also to try to attribute paintings where doubt exists about authorship.

One such find which rocked the art world in the early 1990s was that of The Taking of Christ.

In 1990, The Taking of Christ, which used to hang in the convent of the Jesuit Fathers in Dublin, Ireland, was taken for restoration on the advice of Sergio Benedetti, curator of the National Gallery of Ireland.

After assiduous detective work, Mr Benedetti concluded that the painting, which till then was attributed to Gerrit van Honthorst, was in fact a "lost" Caravaggio whose whereabouts had been unknown for 200 years.

Honthorst had studied with the painter Abraham Bloemart but in the early 1610s went to Rome where he painted in the style of Caravaggio.

Caravaggio had painted The Taking of Christ in 1602 for the Mattei family, members of the Roman nobility and great patrons of the artist.

The Taking of Christ crystallises the moment when Christ was betrayed by Judas as Roman soldiers moved closer to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane. On the left of the painting a man is seen rushing out of the scene in a panic.

Dr Benedetti is in Malta to talk about Replicas, Copies and Imitations of Caravaggio's Works at Caraffa Stores in Vittoriosa today at 7.30 p.m.

This will be the last lecture in the series of talks on Caravaggio by international authorities on the painter, as part of the events held to mark the exhibition on the great artist's work. La Mostra Impossibile comes to an end tomorrow.

Dr Benedetti presented his discovery to the art world in 1993. This attribution was universally accepted and the picture is now a major exhibit at the National Gallery of Ireland.

The odd thing, however, is that the art world woke up to another storm of debate in February this year when Italian art expert Maria Letizia Paoletti claimed that a dealer in Rome had a painting that could be considered the original of The Taking of Christ.

Art historian Keith Sciberras said that in today's lecture, Dr Benedetti will be discussing the problem of replicas and copies of Caravaggio's work, particularly when claims for autograph status are made for works which survive in more than one near-identical version.

"The lecture promises to be an exciting event because of the recent and most controversial attribution to Caravaggio of a newly discovered picture of The Taking of Christ. Is the 'new' picture an autographed work, a replica, or a copy?" Dr Sciberras asked.

On February 17 this year, the BBC reported that the National Gallery of Ireland was confident their painting of The Taking of Christ was authentic.

Museum director Raymond Keaveney had then pointed out that the painting was definitely by the celebrated artist, who died in 1610.

The online edition of the Limerick Leader of March 6, had on the other hand reported that Dr Paoletti claimed she had proof that a painting in Rome was the original version.

The argument was fuelled further when British art historian Sir Denis Mahon, who was in Malta recently, announced that both the Rome and Dublin paintings were the work of the controversial Italian master.

Dr Sciberras noted that there were two trends of thought: those who strongly hold that Caravaggio generally painted only one of the paintings he came up with, except for known instances where he painted versions, while the other maintains that the irascible painter also painted replicas.

The website of the National Gallery of Art in Dublin gives a fine description of The Taking of Christ, including the following: "The contrasting faces of Jesus and Judas, both placed against the blood red drapery in the background, imbue the painting with great psychological depth.

"Likewise, the terrorised expression and gesture of the fleeing man, perhaps another of Christ's disciples, convey the emotional intensity of the moment.

"The man carrying the lantern at the extreme right, who looks inquisitively over the soldiers' heads, has been interpreted as a self-portrait."

Full details about the provenance of The Taking of Christ and other works by Caravaggio are available on the web.

www.caravaggio.com

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