Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech yesterday said State heritage agency, Heritage Malta, will have to “carry out an objective evaluation” of its contacts behind the controversial Caravaggio exhibition in Valletta.
The celebration of 400 years since Caravaggio came to Malta ended up with only three out of eight paintings acknowledged as authentic Caravaggios by the absolute majority of international art experts, who dismissed the remaining five as works by the Italian artist’s contemporaries.
Last Sunday, MaltaToday revealed how the exhibition had been aggressively marketed as “an exhibition of original masterpieces” despite the raging controversy about the majority of the paintings exhibited at the National Museum of Archaeology.
The exhibition’s website and catalogue also list other great Caravaggio masterpieces that were never sent for the event, deceiving the public into believing they are on display. Until last night, the website run by Italian agency RomArtificio was still accessible on www.caravaggiomalta.com although the minister said it was meant to be shut down.
“I have been very cautious in the way I spoke about this event,” Zammit Dimech said yesterday. “In the opening itself, I was very clear that the absolute majority of art experts disagree that most of the paintings are by Caravaggio. In reality there is always bound to be an element of controversy given the artist’s greatness, but I prefer to err on the side of caution… I think Heritage Malta eventually needs to carry out its own analysis with an open mind. It has to carry out an objective evaluation of the contacts it worked with. As to myself, I only accept as Caravaggio those paintings about which the critics are in agreement.”
“On the other hand, credit should be given to Heritage Malta for organising an exhibition that makes Caravaggio accessible to everyone through a didactic experience, theatre and other exhibits linked to Caravaggio’s stay in Malta. It’s great to see the debate about his works continuing here.”
Foremost among the critics is Italian celebrity art expert Vittorio Sgarbi, who last Sunday told MaltaToday he was “perplexed” by the fact the exhibition sells its paintings as Caravaggios without shedding light on the highly controversial attributions. “It’s clear there are only a few Caravaggios there,” Sgarbi said. “All the paintings are of course great and beautiful masterpieces, but they’re the works of other Caravaggio contemporaries.”
Renaissance Productions is credited with making the contact for Heritage Malta with RomArtificio run by Italian impresario Roberto Celli, notorious in arts market circles, who convinced Renaissance and Heritage Malta of his ability to get up to 20 Caravaggio masterpieces to Malta for the 400th anniversary, persuading even the culture minister to give his full support.
The minister said he was not aware of how much Celli was paid for his input.