Lost for hundreds of years after it was created sometime in the early 1600s and known only through recreations until re-discovered in 2014, artist Caravaggio’s Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy draws the viewer into an unguarded moment with this biblical figure. Here, she sits, heads thrown back, arms folded over her belly, cloth slipping from her shoulder, a mystic who appears intimately human, neither a penitent sinner nor a haloed saint. “It depicts Mary Magdalene in a way that was never done before because she was usually depicted either in penitence or after redemption when she was ascending to the heavens. But at this moment, he depicts her in between a divine ecstasy and a very earthly ecstasy – her divine bliss was also felt physically so she sheds a small tear, she opens her mouth. This depiction had an enormous influence on art that followed,” explains Alfonso Tagliaferri, the consul general of Italy in Bengaluru. He, along with the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) , The Italian Cultural Centre at the Italian Embassy, Delhi, and The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, with support from prominent business people Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Geetanjali Kirloskar, and Rezwan Razack, have brought this iconic Baroque painting to the city after its stint in Delhi last month.
Opening to visitors today at the NGMA, the painting will be in the city until July 6. Immense care has been taken in how the painting is displayed, in an arched grey niche invoking Baroque architecture. The lighting, too, is deliberate yet simple, complementing Caravaggio’s signature use of the chiaroscuro technique of using intense light and dark contrasts to create depth and drama. Tagliaferri explains, “The illumination is only from the top left, all of Caravaggio’s paintings are illuminated this way – it is a sort of divine light. We also ask visitors to look at the paintings slightly from the left to recreate exactly what he imagined.” Along with viewing the painting, visitors can learn more about the legendary Italian artist’s life through an interactive VR set-up feturing material from Rome’s Galleria Borghese.
Last valued at approximately €48 million (around `477 crore), the painting, apart from being of immense cultural value, is precious cargo, the safety and care of which is a top priority. As Priyanka Mary Francis, the director of the NGMA explains, “The handling is always done by experts. The gallery is temperature-controlled and also equipped for relative humidity control between 55 to 60 per cent, ideal for paintings. Security has also been amped up with additional security from the Karnataka State Police.”
Francis notes the excitement already building among Bengalureans over a Caravaggio in the city, saying, “The reception has been great, we’ve been getting a lot of queries and attention on social media handles – a lot of curiosity has been generated around this. Many people feel contemporary art is beyond their appreciation. We want more and more common people to come in, and hope that this painting is beginning to change all the inhibitions people have.”