Caravaggio’s painting ‘Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy’ comes to Delhi in April

Art lovers in India who have never got the chance to see Renaissance paintings will finally get to view Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, drawn by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), in April when it will be on display at the Italian embassy and then at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi.

This 1606 painting, which shows Mary Magdalene in divine ecstasy a few years after the death of Christ, was discovered only in 2014 in a private collection in Europe. Christian myth suggests that Mary Magdalene was believed to have been living in a cave in southern France; seven times a day she got the vision of “the delightful harmonies of the celestial choirs”.

Greatness of Caravaggio

Caravaggio captures that precise moment of ecstasy in this painting, which is now on a world tour and will come to India due to the efforts of the Italian embassy. In February this year, about 200 works of Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali (1904-1989) were part of the exhibition, “Dali Comes to India,” at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi.

Earlier, the great European master who was exhibited in India was Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) whose 122 paintings, including his entire ‘blue period’, were shown at the National Museum on Janpath in 2001 in a magnificent show called ‘Metamorphoses.’

Almost a quarter of a century later comes this 100-x-90 cm oil on canvas masterpiece of Caravaggio which is among his last paintings, all of which are on canvas though paintings on wood panels were also popular during his period.

Renewed interest in Caravaggio

Renaissance paintings, costing millions of dollars, are exhibited only in Europe and the US due mostly to the risks of damage and theft involved during transportation.

The worldwide exhibition of this painting also marks a revival of interest in Caravaggio, considered by art critics and historians as among the greatest painters of Christian art.

“Between 1592 and 1606 (when he was a fugitive from justice and hiding in Rome), he transformed Christian art more completely than anyone since his namesake, Michelangelo,” writes Simon Schama, in The Power of Art.

Two famous works

Most of the subjects of Caravaggio are Christian subjects, a familiar pattern seen among Renaissance painters. The national Gallery in London had mounted a show on his last documented painting, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (see pic), which this reporter had the privilege of viewing.

The show, which ended in July 2024, also had perhaps the most famous of Caravaggio’s paintings, Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist (see pic).

Who is Caravaggio?

Caravaggio is named after a small town near Naples. His father, Fermino Merisi, was an architect and builder. He died in the plague which swept Milan in 1577.

Lucia, his wife, and her two boys were already sent to the nearby Caravaggio to escape the plague. With no money and property left for the family, the only hope was for boys to join the church.

Battista became a priest and Michelangelo became the painter who would change art forever.

Self-portraits

Ecstasy was painted in 1606, while Caravaggio was hiding in the estate of his protectors, the Colonna noble family. The reclining posture of Mary has evinced interest in scholars, some of whom have suggested it is sexual ecstasy though such conclusions have been questioned.

There are replicas of the painting as well. One is called Klein Magdalena, which is eerily similar. Not all Renaissance art experts believe that any of the two are originals.

Most renaissance painters and later artists also painted self-portraits, the most famous among such modern paintings being Van Gogh’s self-portrait.

A criminal artist

Caravaggio inserted his portrait as biblical and mythical characters in his paintings. Over the 15 years of his career, he appears as a sick Bachhus (‘A boy bitten by a lizard’), Medusa at the point of death, a horn player in a group of musicians, a bystander in St Matthews beheading and most gruesomely as the head of Goliath held by David.

Death, blood and killing were all over in Caravaggio’s painting -- and in his life. He is believed to have murdered at least two people and was always on the run during which period he created masterpieces as if art was his calling and his violence just a past time.

He also drew his sword at a waiter for not answering his questions about the food served, apart from many other physical fights he got into. It is amazing that some of the greatest works of art were imagined inside this febrile mind of violence.

But out of all the violence were born masterpieces of savage beauty. For us in India, one of those creations will finally be on view — soon.