Caravaggio expelled from Order over ‘storm in a teacup’

Documents unearthed from the Sovereign Military Order of St John of Jerusalem reveal a completely different story from what is ‘historically’ known so far about Caravaggio’s expulsion from the Order, and suggest that the master Renaissance painter was certainly not a “criminal”.

According to Silvano Vincenti, Chairman of the Italian National Committee for the evaluation of national heritage, who commissioned a research to establish the burial place and trace the remains of the acclaimed maestro, “the documents have revealed that Caravaggio was never a criminal.”

He explained that it appears that Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was in fact expelled from the Order over “a storm in a tea cup, and nothing more.”

Vincenti – who was quoted last night on all Italian news agencies – explained that all the negative attributes to Caravaggio related to his expulsion were all “fruit of jealous competitors in his field.”

He concluded that the “documents finally do justice with the man who has given so much to humanity.”

Meanwhile, Caravaggio expert Vittorio Sgarbi is set to travel to Malta once again, in a bid to establish whether a St Jerome painting recently discovered in a chapel in Italy is a genuine Caravaggio or not.

The painting, which initially was attributed to Caravaggio was subsequently attributed to an artist of the school of Caravaggio, possibly Cali’, but Sgarbi says that he is still not convinced of the theory.

The renowned expert has said that he will compare the brush strokes and the shadings with the original St Jerome that is exhibited at St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta.