An interesting documentary at Isabella/München
It has some unexpected turns while at the end basically everybody seems to be happy — although we neither know the buyer, the price and the courtage. And just 9 months display at Prado is a bit disapppointing, isn’t it?
Doubts remain also about the authorship as the work is not signed by Caravaggio as nearly all of his paintings. There was a large number of “follower” as many artists were influenced by Caravaggio’s style and techniques. And well, there is an exceptional high value included where all people involved have a significant financial incentive: seller, auction house, trader, experts, museums …
I am not very much impressed by the hands and also the documentation raises questions
Most of the scholars who have examined the painting date its execution between 1606 and 1607, either during the artist’s last months in Rome or after his escape to Naples after impaling the local gang boss Ranuccio Tommasoni with his rapier during a game of tennis.
So did Caravaggio leave an unfinished painting? Did another painter complete it?
Camillo Manzitti, writing in Finestre sull’Arte (May 2024), contends that after restoration, the painting reveals a moderate chiaroscuro and lack of the dramatic tension characteristic of Caravaggio. He specifically highlights weakened emotional expression. Pilate appears only vaguely sad, not deeply troubled, and the young man behind Christ lacks the hallucinatory horror typical of Caravaggio’s depictions. The poor anatomical modeling, which he argues is incompatible with Caravaggio’s known skill. Christ’s face is asymmetrically deformed, with misaligned eyes and an ear inserted at an unnatural angle. Pilate’s face also shows modeling weaknesses. Kolja Thurner, an art historian based in Berlin, voiced his doubts via X as “a good painting by a talented Caravaggio follower, stylistically imitating the master to a high degree.”
BTW – the Guardian has the best reproductions IMHO.