Authors: Matt Rees
You’ll find more works by Caravaggio in these same galleries and in other museums in London, Vienna, Potsdam, Moscow, Messina, Florence, Syracuse, Genoa, Cremona, Milan,
Dublin, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Cleveland, Barcelona, Nancy and Rouen.
The Nativity with Sts Francis and Lawrence
, which appears in the Palermo section of my story, was stolen in 1969 and
never recovered. If you know where to see
that
one, let me know.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Brother John Critien is the sole Knight of St John who now lives in Sant’Angelo Castle in Malta. He was gracious enough to guide me around, though the fortress
isn’t open to the public, and to exchange theories about Caravaggio’s time there. Philip Farrugia Randon, the president of the Knights in Valletta and an authority on Caravaggio, and
his assistant Nadia Chetcuti were extremely welcoming. Joan Sheridan showed me around the Grand Harbour towns with great enthusiasm.
In Rome, Patrizia Piergiovanni generously accorded me access to the magnificent Colonna Palace. Only partially open to the public on Saturday mornings, it’s well worth a visit.
My friends Ugo Somma and Marcella Tondi were great companions on my visits to the finest sights in Naples and some of its more squalid and shameful ones, too. Marco de Simone allowed me access
to one of the Colonna family’s Neapolitan palaces – and to his excellent restaurant in Chiaia, da Marco, which is almost as good a reason to visit Naples as the works of Caravaggio.
I’m grateful to Dr Raz Chen-Morris, professor of the history of early modern science at Bar-Ilan University, for introducing me to the extensive recent research about Caravaggio’s
likely use of a
camera obscura
.
To be better able to describe what Caravaggio did, I tried to pick up some new skills. I learned oil painting with the guidance of Yael Robin, filling my office with my own copies of
Caravaggio’s works. At the Academy for Historical Fencing in my home town of Newport, Wales, Nick Thomas gave me the benefit of his practical expertise, teaching me to fight with a rapier and
passing on insights into swordsmanship in Caravaggio’s era.
My wife Devorah was full of enthusiasm and intuition as we hunted down Caravaggio’s art and the places he touched. I’m grateful to our friends Miriam Silinsky and Danielle Ceder for
taking our toddler Cai on his own tours of Rome (he likes all the fountains) while I conducted my research. Cai composed a little song about Caravaggio which he sang to me as I wrote this book.
I’m humming it now.