‘L’Enigma Caravaggio’, the 5-day online megaconference is inaugurated throughout January, dedicated to the Lombard pictorial genius

Today begins the great international conference dedicated to Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, one of the most loved and studied painters of all time, who was born 450 years ago. The initiative is divided into five days (morning and afternoon) starting today and throughout the month of January on the zoom platform. It is online, in fact, that over 40 speakers, scholars and experts will meet and ‘collide’, comparing ideas and perspectives, unpublished visions and discoveries, everything there is to know and understand about work and life, still not fully explored, of the great pictorial genius. “70 years have passed since the Longhian exhibition”, the organizers of the exhibition remind Adnkronos, “which is entitled ‘1951-2021. The Caravaggio enigma. Comparing new studies’ precisely to underline how novelties and discoveries will be presented with respect to knowledge already established “in the five days of Wednesday 12, Wednesday 19, Friday 21, Wednesday 26 and Friday 28 of January 2022. Distinguished scholars will participate, including – just to name a few – Marco Bussagli, Barbara Jatta, Sybille Ebert Schifferer, Andrea Spiriti , Silvia Danesi Squarzina, Claudio Strinati, Stefania Macioce, Bert Treffers, Rossella Vodret, Alessandro Zuccari, Fabio Scaletti and many others, also leaving room for young researchers who are interested in Caravaggio. The most qualified Italian and foreign speakers, in fact, have joined the initiative – conceived by Professor Sergio Rossi of the University La Sapienza of Rome) with the contribution of Professor Rodolfo Papa of the Urban Academy of Arts of Rome – to have the opportunity to discuss about the most recent discoveries on Caravaggio. “And it is precisely the pleasure of sharing, comparing and disseminating the latest studies in an educational key on the Lombard artist – continue the teachers – that distinguishes this from others online conference, free and free, with credits recognized by accredited universities (such as, for example, La Sapienza in Rome, the University of Messina, Lumsa in Palermo, Insubria and Eastern Piedmont) “. An original and innovative initiative, according to scholars, “which unites the academic and university world with that of teaching and dissemination, with the possibility for users and subscribers to ask questions”. Despite the enormous amount of studies carried out so far on Caravaggio, he still remains “a fascinating mystery, which with this conference we intend to investigate in an original and open to comparison”. But how? We ask Rossi and Papa co-authors of the initiative. “First of all – they reply – trying to dispel some clichés about the artist, such as the one who sees him as an atheist or unbeliever. The extraordinary human and artistic adventure will be retraced between Rome and Naples, but also from Malta to Sicily”. “Particular attention – on January 26 – will then be dedicated to Caravaggio’s Lombard and Ticino matrix, to his cultural and artistic training. His influence outside Italy will also be examined: from Spain to Latin America “. An unmissable event, therefore, for those interested in the so-called ‘black holes’, that is, that part of Caravaggio’s studies which to date has not found adequate answers to a series of important questions. What relationship did Caravaggio have with his parents? Whose son was he really? Did he, in turn, have heirs? Why did you leave Milan? When did you arrive in Rome? And so on, as underlined by another participant of the meeting, Fabio Scaletti, author of one of the largest monographs dedicated to Merisi. This conference therefore represents not so much a point of arrival, but rather “a starting point for initiatives to share and to spread, with the common goal of shedding more light on Caravaggio’s troubled life and art “. An artist who, through his extraordinary talent, thoroughly illuminated the meanders of the soul, transposing human emotions and behaviors onto the canvases that make his painting wonderfully modern and, still today, close to our current feeling. (By Rossella Guadagnini )