In 1603, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio painted the famous artwork The Taking of Christ.
For centuries after, it remained in the hands of the family of the man who commissioned it, Ciriaco Mattei.
in 1924, Dr Marie Lea-Wilson brought it to Ireland and paid £20 to have it restored.
The painting had been incorrectly attributed to Gerard van Honthorst, believed to be his copy of Caravaggio’s work.
Wilson donated the painting to the Jesuits on Leeson Street in Dublin in the 1930s, in gratitude for their support after her husband, a Royal Irish Constabulary District Inspector, was shot dead by the IRA. They did so because of his involvement with the executions of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. The Jesuits hung it in their dining room.
In 1990, Sergio Benedetti of the National Gallery was examining the paintings owned by the Jesuits to consider restoration, when he noticed that it had potential to be an authentic lost painting by Caravaggio rather than a copy. After 3 years, it was determined that it was genuine. It has been hung in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin since, though is still owned by the Jesuits.
In the photo, Christ can be seen being taken as Judas betrays him with a kiss. The haunting use of colour and the sense of chaos all add to its striking appearance. Some have suggested that the bright shiny armour on the arm of the soldier is intended to reflect Judas’s sin onto ours and to our own betrayals of Christ.
The discovery of this painting is a wonderful blessing from God and it has allowed us a beautiful reminder that art should be made with the truth of God in mind.
