Art historians have discovered the original painting "St. Augustine" by Caravaggio

The image of St. Augustine by Caravaggio was first exhibited at the current Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome exhibition in Ottawa. This masterpiece was re-"found" in a collection collected by the patrons of the artist
: Cardinal Benedetto Justiniani and his brother Marquez Vincenzo.

Caravaggio - St. Augustine (Caravaggio - St. Augustine)
Photo: Whitfield Fine Art

The canvas was covered with a dense layer of colorless varnish. The label attached to the stretcher indicated the owner of the collection from the nineteenth century, as well as the theme, size and description of the painting in accordance with the registry of Vincenzo Justiniani, compiled by him some time before his death in 1683.

After carrying out cleaning work on the canvas, elements of the characteristic Caravaggio technique appeared, in which there were many similarities with the works done in Rome in the 16th-17th centuries. Among other things, the islets of soil characteristic of the artist, disproportionate figures and stylistic experiments, based on the works on optics with which the master was passionate, were found on the canvas.

When the topcoat was removed, Professor Silvia Danesi Squarzina, who recently published a research paper on the Justiniani collection, recognized the work of an eighteenth-century restorer who worked on paintings while they were still in the Palazzo Justiniani. He used a composition made from egg white instead of varnish.

Many of the fifteen canvases of Caravaggio that were mentioned on the 1638 list, including a portrait of his patron, Cardinal Benedetto, were lost. Two more paintings: “Agony in the Garden” and “Portrait of a Courtesan”, according to some assumptions, were destroyed in Berlin during World War II.

"St. Augustine" was studied by experts from Rome using X-ray and infrared lighting, as a result of which it was found that the technique of drawing is identical to the works written in the 1600s. The picture can be traced in Justiniani’s lists until 1859. The canvas was sold in 1862, when the heir decided to vacate the premises.

Now the application for the portrait of St. Augustine by Caravaggio was made from Rome. From November 10 of this year to February 5 of next year, the painting will be exhibited at the Roma al tempo di Caravaggio (Rome in the time of Caravaggio) in the Venice Palace, and on November 24-25, 2011 it will become the center of attention at the symposium of specialists in Caravaggio.

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