The Private Life of a Masterpiece (BBC1, Saturday) got an Easter outing about Caravaggio’s ‘The Taking of Christ’.
The Private Life of a Masterpiece (BBC1, Saturday) got an Easter outing about Caravaggio’s ‘The Taking of Christ’. It was superb, as this series invariably is. Understated yet informative, packed with unpatronising experts, it fascinates from start to end. Did you know that Caravaggio was a gangster and murderer, who spent the end of his short life on the run? Or that this particular painting was then the most expensive ever commissioned (125 scudi; I have no idea what that might have been against sterling), or that it sold in Scotland for just eight guineas 120 years ago? Having been misattributed it travelled all over Europe and spent years hanging over a fireplace in Dublin, gathering dust and grime.
And the painting itself is fabulous, a dazzling paparazzi close-up of a celebrity under terminal stress.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in