One of the great excitements in our business is when major works of art are re-discovered. There is so much to get to grips with, including how it was discovered. In this case it couldn't be more mundane, with a humble water leak unlocking its resting place.
And what is its provenance? This is normally a fairly murky tale for a work of this age, and this case is no exception. Is it really a Caravaggio? The experts appear divided which again is not unusual; getting a group of experts to agree unanimously is harder than herding cats but many of the heavy weight critics agree it has a huge commercial value such as the £100 million reported in much of the press. My own feeling is that for a price like that more cats would need to be herded.
Is it a scam? It doesn’t appear to be, but you can never be certain.
Finally why was it hidden away in storage? My own opinion is that, given the subject matter, it was probably to stop the children having nightmares.
