Caravaggio's Basket of Fruit Leaves Milan for Asti, Replaced by Digital Copy

Palazzo Mazzetti in Asti will host a Caravaggio exhibition from November 25, 2023 to April 7, 2024, featuring the famous Basket of Fruit by Michelangelo Merisi. The loan has sparked controversy because the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan, which owns the painting, will display a certified digital serigraph (a Daw by Cinello) on a high-definition monitor in the original frame during the five-month loan. Critics, including the satirical page Mo(n)stre, question the practice of lending key museum works for extended periods, even domestically. The debate echoes previous cases: Bernini's Salvator Mundi at Fiumicino Airport, and the Runners of Herculaneum repeatedly lent by the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (including to Bottega Veneta). In June, the Mi Riconosci movement complained about paying €23 to see empty spaces and high-definition copies at the Naples museum, with works lent to 15 different exhibitions from Korea to Austria to Rome. The article calls for rules on loan durations for significant museum pieces.