By Livia Lupi
The exhibition Dentro Caravaggio at Palazzo Reale in Milan opens today, 29 September, the day which is probably Caravaggio’s birthday.
As well as bringing together for the first time twenty paintings by Caravaggio, the exhibition’s distinguishing factor is the presence of X-ray images of the paintings themselves. These will show how the work evolved, shedding light on Caravaggio’s creative process and technique.
The exhibition is curated by Rossella Vodret with help from a committee also featuring Keith Christiansen (The Met). Its aim is to showcase the results of technical investigations and recently discovered documentary evidence, which led to suggesting different dates for Caravaggio’s early works. Visitors will be able to examine a few of these documents, selected from the Archivio di Stato in Rome and Siena.
Further reading: Rossella Vodret, Caravaggio: The Complete Works. Silvana Editoriale, 2012.
Caravaggio, St John the Baptist, 1604, oil on canvas. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art