Caravaggio's 'Taking of Christ' Returns to Public View After 70 Years

Caravaggio's 'Taking of Christ' (Presa di Cristo) is on display at Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia from October 14, 2023, after a 70-year absence from public view. The painting was last exhibited in 1951 at Palazzo Reale in Milan in a seminal show curated by Roberto Longhi that revived interest in the Lombard painter. The work, originally commissioned by Ciriaco Mattei in 1603, was rediscovered by Longhi in 1943 in the Ruffo di Calabria collection but was then considered a copy. Acquired by Roman antiquarian Mario Bigetti in 2003, recent restoration and diagnostic tests have confirmed its autograph status, revealing extensive pentimenti and compositional changes. Curator Francesco Petrucci argues it is the original Mattei version, distinct from a second autograph replica found in 1993 by Sergio Benedetti at the Convent of Sant'Ignazio dei Gesuiti in Dublin (now at the National Gallery of Ireland). The exhibition also includes a radiograph, reflectography, a reproduction of the Dublin version, and comparative works by Cavalier d'Arpino, a Renaissance painting from Giorgione's circle, and Francesco Villamena's 'Baruffa di Bruttobuono'.