Found 100 unknown drawings of Caravaggio

A group of historians in Milan has just discovered more than a hundred previously unpublished works of Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610), better known as Caravaggio. All the work he performed in his teens, between 1584 and 1588, while studying in the studio of the artist-mannerist Simone Peterzano (Simone Peterzano). In the case of confirmation of authorship of the found paintings, this find promises to be one of the most sensational in the history of fine art. But at the moment, there are many doubts.

The two lives of Caravaggio (Caravaggio), a lone genius and a swindler attacking the enemy with a knife, have been studied by numerous experts for the past four centuries since his death. The news spread today by the Italian media concerns, rather, his first life - belonging to art.

Photo: ANSA / MATTEO BAZZI

A team of researchers led by Maurizio Bernardelli Curuz and Adriana Conconi Fedrigolli have been researching archives of churches and castles around Milan for several years. In Castello Sforzesco, they managed to discover 1378 works by Simon Petersano and his many students, among whom about a hundred belong to Caravaggio. The find has already been estimated at 700 million euros, based on the average market value of one artist’s drawing.

Given that so far no more than 50 paintings of Caravaggio were known, today’s find seems truly fabulous. It provides a wealth of material for a more detailed study of the artist. To date, the authorship of the master with respect to 83 works has been reliably established. The rest raise doubts from experts on a number of elements uncharacteristic of Caravaggio’s style of writing and direct borrowing from other people’s paintings.