Exhibitions: ‘Caravaggio-last landing’ with the lying San Giovanni Battista

The exhibition “Caravaggio – last landing” was inaugurated today, which is housed in the suggestive church of the Badia di Ragusa and which can be enjoyed until 15 October 2022. The exhibition, created and organized following a specific thematic path dedicated to the episodes significant of the life of St. John the Baptist, is edited by prof. Pierluigi Carofano and has the central fulcrum in the work “San Giovanni Battista lying” by Caravaggio. San Giovanni Battista, also patron saint of the city of Ragusa with the dedicated Cathedral in continuous dialogue of proximity to the place of the exhibition, was one of the most reproduced subjects in the paintings of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio also in the childish or just adolescent version in the theme of ” San Giovannino ”which is central in the work exhibited in the Hyblean capital. This canvas by Caravaggio, dating back to 1610, was one of the three paintings that the Milanese painter had with him during his last journey from Naples to Rome and precisely for this circumstance, as also stated by leading scholars such as Gianni Papi, Rossella Vordet, Nicola Spinosa and Mina Gregori, it is considered to be an incomplete work. Documented since the seventeenth century in the prestigious Medici collections, we do not know the reasons why the work left the aforementioned collections and then reappeared in 1860 when it was purchased by the wealthy Freemason Henry Benjamin Humphrey and later donated to the Masonic Lodge of the East in Thomaston in Maine and remained there until 2009, when it was sold to the current owner resident in Malta. Thanks to the production work of Happee Place and Mediatica and with the patronage of the Municipality of Ragusa, the Libero Municipal Consortium and the Opera Pia Schininà, it will therefore be possible to closely observe one of the most iconic works of the research and painting work of the master Caravaggio . Alongside the work “St John the Baptist lying” are exhibited four other works: Domenico Piola, Sermon of San Giovanni Battista. Naples, private collection; Luigi Garzi, Saint John the Baptist baptizes Christ in the Jordan River. Rome, Amata collection; Giovanni Odazzi, Saint John the Baptist Preaching to the Crowds. Rome, private collection; Francesco Rustici, Holy Family and San Giovannino. Naples, private collection. The inauguration of the exhibition was preceded by a very popular press conference held in the nearby premises of the Centro Commerciale Culturale in Ragusa. In the presence of the mayor Peppe Cassì, the councilor Ciccio Barone, the art promoter and creator Giovanni Filippini of the curator of the exhibition prof. Pierluigi Carofano underlined how the exhibition on Caravaggio and the other four masterpieces will also become an opportunity, as well as to admire the interior of the Badia Church and its architecture, to raise funds to be dedicated to the restoration of the works painted by Tommaso Pollace and placed inside the church. “We are hoping to develop a cultural project in the future as well, we want Ragusa to be chosen for everything it represents at a naturalistic level but also at a cultural level” said Mayor Cassì at the end of the press conference. For his part, the commissioner Barone also wanted to thank Happee Place “for having chosen Ragusa as the place for the exhibition, for the first time in Sicily and Italy, of this work by Caravaggio”. An agreement has also been signed with the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Ragusa to allow visitors to the Donnafugata Castle to see the exhibition with a discounted ticket to the Church of the Badia by presenting the entrance ticket to the Castle and vice versa. The Ragusa exhibition will be open in the months of May and June from Monday to Friday from 10.00 to 20.00 (last admission at 19.00) and on Saturday and Sunday from 10.00 to 21.00 (last admission at 20.00) while in the months of July, August and September every day from 10.00 to 23.00 (last admission at 22.00), finally in October from Monday to Sunday from 10.00 to 20.00 last admission at 19.00).