OH GOD, I FOUND TWO CARAVAGGIOS!
Imagine yourself being a placid priest of a placid church form the placid French countryside. On an also placid day, you accidentally find two old canvases in an organ loft, so an art expert is called to examine the paintings. Later, he calls you: “congratulations, Father. Both are by Caravaggio. They are valued in excess of $100 million” Sounds good, doesn’t it? So now you can imagine how the priest from the little church of Loches, France, is feeling right now.
The Caravaggios, “Pilgrimage of Our Lord to Emmaus” and “Saint Thomas putting his finger on Christ’s wound”, are said to be in a more than acceptable condition, and they add to their artistic and historical value the fact that only a mere 60 or 80 paintings are accepted as “true” caravaggios. The destiny of both paintings is now a mystery, but knowing the French restrictions to the export of historic works of art, the Wolf bets on two fantastic new acquisitions for the Louvre.
The found of works by Caravaggio on religious buildings seems to be becoming a habit. In 1990 “The taking of Christ” was discovered in residence of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in Dublin , Ireland , and put in a long period loan in the National Gallery of Dublin (remember the great movie “Ordinary Decent Criminal, directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan) The painting is now in exhibition at the National Gallery of Washington.
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