Italy tries to solve death of Baroque-era painter
Source: Agencies |
March 12, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
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SIX possible descendants of Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, have been DNA-tested in the hopes they can help unveil the mystery surrounding the painter's death.
The cause of death in 1610 and the whereabouts of the corpse have always been unclear but a team of Italian anthropologists believe that what is left of Caravaggio's body may be hidden among dozens of bodies buried in a crypt in Tuscany.
For months, the team - from the departments of Anthropology and Cultural Heritage Conservation at the universities of Ravenna and Bologna - has exhumed remains of long-buried corpses in the hope of performing a belated autopsy.
This week they traveled to the northern town of Caravaggio, where Merisi grew up, to carry out tests with possible descendents - some of them carrying derivations of the family name. As Caravaggio died childless the team looked for the painter's closest blood descendents.
"We have carried out DNA tests on some individuals who have the same surname as Caravaggio, that is Merisi, and whom we think could be genetically linked to the great painter," Professor Giorgio Grupponi said at the testing.
Caravaggio pioneered the Baroque painting technique of contrasting light and dark known as chiaroscuro.
He was known for a wild life and legend says he died en route to Rome to seek pardon for killing a man in a brawl.
As he waited for his saliva to be tested, pensioner Francesco Merisio said he would be happy to be a proven descendant of Caravaggio. "But I have no great expectations that it would change my life," he said.
The cause of death in 1610 and the whereabouts of the corpse have always been unclear but a team of Italian anthropologists believe that what is left of Caravaggio's body may be hidden among dozens of bodies buried in a crypt in Tuscany.
For months, the team - from the departments of Anthropology and Cultural Heritage Conservation at the universities of Ravenna and Bologna - has exhumed remains of long-buried corpses in the hope of performing a belated autopsy.
This week they traveled to the northern town of Caravaggio, where Merisi grew up, to carry out tests with possible descendents - some of them carrying derivations of the family name. As Caravaggio died childless the team looked for the painter's closest blood descendents.
"We have carried out DNA tests on some individuals who have the same surname as Caravaggio, that is Merisi, and whom we think could be genetically linked to the great painter," Professor Giorgio Grupponi said at the testing.
Caravaggio pioneered the Baroque painting technique of contrasting light and dark known as chiaroscuro.
He was known for a wild life and legend says he died en route to Rome to seek pardon for killing a man in a brawl.
As he waited for his saliva to be tested, pensioner Francesco Merisio said he would be happy to be a proven descendant of Caravaggio. "But I have no great expectations that it would change my life," he said.
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