The Caravaggio exhibition has attracted visitors who had never been to the Museum of Fine Arts, according to Sandro Debono, Heritage Malta's Senior Curator for the Arts.

The strong point of the exhibition is that lay people can learn about Caravaggio, the social context in which he painted and get to see world-class paintings from different collections.

"Two paintings of Isaac's sacrifice, a day and a night scene, have never been seen like this in the art world. But our role as Heritage Malta is to open people's eyes and ears to the beauty of art and history and to help them appreciate the wealth we have. If, after these Caravaggio exhibitions are over, visitors have learnt something about this great artist, then we would have achieved our key goal," Mr Debono said.

Two venues are hosting the exhibition - at the Museum of Archaeology visitors learn about Caravaggio's life besides experiencing his art and style, while at the Fine Arts Museum the visitor is absorbed by a Caravaggisti experience.

Visitors can see works by followers of Caravaggio who were in one way or another influenced by the works of this great master.

The paintings by the Caravaggisti show Caravaggio's influence on the art world, both in his time and later. Caravaggio's use of light is innovative and the depiction of a crude and uncompromising reality adds meaning to his works. Indeed, his followers were struck in varying degrees by these inventions but they treated subjects in different ways, Mr Debono said.

These stylistic traits are interpreted by Caravaggio followers including Mathias Stomer, Jusepe Ribera and the French artist La Valentin. The national collection is rich in such high calibre works by world-renowned artists such as Vermiglio and Carracciolo, which are currently being exhibited at St John's co-Cathedral, loaned by Heritage Malta.

"Paintings we see in museums these days were not painted for museums. Paintings were commissioned or bought from artists for particular purposes. Some might have commissioned a particular painting out of devotion or because of some cult," Mr Debono said.

A controversy erupted recently over how many of the paintings attributed to Caravaggio were actually by the great artist.

"In September we had said we'll be having nine works of art by Caravaggio. At the eleventh hour, the painting of Mary Magdalene in ecstasy could not be sent because they discovered it had conservation problems, so in the end we ended up with one painting less.

"Regarding authorship, Maurizio Marini, a Caravaggio expert, argues that all works are by Caravaggio. (Italian art critic) Vittorio Sgarbi says four are by Caravaggio and the rest are by other great artists. There are others who say only two are by Caravaggio.

"There will always be academic debates about who painted what, and whether a particular work is by a master or one of his followers. At the time, many artists had their bottega. Popular works were also copied over and over again. Few bothered to sign paintings and even a signature is not necessarily proof that the painting is original. Determining who painted a particular painting is like detective work, involving a number of disciplines. But beyond this academic debate, which interests a restricted few, there is the aesthetic aspects of these paintings, and what they stood for," Mr Debono said.

He said this was the first exhibition of its kind that sparked off such a debate.

"We were used to holding 'safe' exhibitions of works by known artists. Debate and discussion are healthy aspects and I think this exhibition has set the shape of things to come. We may well have more exhibitions of this nature in future," he said.