italians think they have found caravaggio's bones - phys.org · italians think they have found...

Italians think they have found Caravaggio'sbones16 June 2010, By ALESSANDRA RIZZO

The remains of Italian painter Caravaggio are presentedduring a press conference in Ravenna, Italy,Wednesday, June 16, 2010. Researchers announcedresults of their year-long project, saying they have likelyidentified the remains of Caravaggio, 400 years after hisdeath. However, the admit they can never be fullycertain, saying the attribution can only be given with an85 percent probability. (AP Photo/Enzo Russo)

Italian researchers believe they have found theremains of Caravaggio, but 400 years later someof the mysteries surrounding the death of the artistmay never be solved.

After a year of digging and analyzing centuries-oldbones, the researchers said Wednesday they haveidentified a set of bones they believe to beCaravaggio's, though they admit they can never be100 percent certain.

They think Caravaggio may have died fromsunstroke while weakened by syphilis and otherailments.

The bones — a fragment of the frontal part of theskull, two jaw pieces, a femur and a fragment ofthe sacrum, or the bone at the base of the spine —were displayed on Wednesday in Ravenna, anorthern Italian city where most of the analyseshave been carried out. Kept inside a rectangularcase, they rested on a silk red cushion.

Caravaggio, died in Porto Ercole, a beach town onthe Tuscan coast, in 1610. At 39, the Baroquemaster had been a celebrity painter, whose notesworks included "Bacchus" and "David with theHead of Goliath." He is known for his dramatic useof light, novel perspective and the use of ordinarypeople — sometimes street thugs — in religious andmythological scenes.

He had also led a dissolute life of street brawls,booze and encounters with prostitutes. His lastdays are shrouded in mystery.

The team of scientists dug up bones found in PortoErcole's crypts and brought them to Ravenna toconduct lab tests, while historians combed througharchives in search of papers documentingCaravaggio's movements. The group conductedcarbon dating, DNA tests and other analyses on thebones, until they singled out one set of fragments —"Find No. 5."

"There can't be the scientific certainty becausewhen one works on ancient DNA, it is degraded,"Giorgio Gruppioni, an anthropologist on the team,told The Associated Press. "But only in one set ofbones did we find all the elements necessary for itto be Caravaggio's — age, period in which he died,gender, height."

The group says there is an 85 percent probabilitythey are right, though team leader Silvano Vincetisays that is conservative. "We are being cautious,"he said. "As a historian I can say we have found theremains... All evidence concurs."

The DNA comparison was conducted between thebones that had been identified and that of somepossible male relatives in Caravaggio, a small townin northern Italy where the painter — whose realname was Michelangelo Merisi — was born in 1571.Caravaggio had no known children, therefore nodirect descendants.

1 / 3

Gruppioni, who is based in Ravenna, said theresearchers identified a genetic combination inthose whose last name was Merisi or Merisio,compatible with traces found on the bones inquestion. Because the bones are old and the DNAdegraded, not all genetic characteristics could beconfirmed.

Still, the evidence pointed to "Find No. 5." Thebones belonged to a man who died between 38and 40 years of age and at a time around 1610.They also presented a high level of lead and othermetals associated with painting. Sediment found onthe bones was also compatible with the deeper,older layers of terrain inside the crypt — the levelwhere such old bones were thrown, theresearchers said.

The bones belonged to a robust man. Caravaggio,at 170 centimeters (5 feet 7 inches), was tall by thestandards of his time.

The cause of Caravaggio's death has been thesubject of much conjecture, some of it nourished bythe adventurous existence that the artist led.Possibilities raised by scholars range from malariato syphilis to murder at the hands of one of themany enemies Caravaggio made over the years.

The researchers believe that Caravaggio may havedied from sunstroke, saying that 1610 wasrecorded as an extremely hot year. Caravaggio,who had just arrived by boat carrying his latestworks, is believed to have collapsed on the beach.However, Gruppioni said sunstroke leaves no traceon the bones, therefore there is no scientificcertainty.

According to the researchers, Caravaggio wasburied in the town's San Sebastiano cemetery, andthen his bones were dug up when the graveyardwas moved.

The San Sebastiano death registry shows norecord of Caravaggio dying. But Vinceti says thatSpanish authorities who were in charge of the areaat the time deliberately chose to bury him secretlyso that they could take possession of his paintingsundisturbed.

The project wrapped up just as Italy marks the 400anniversary since Caravaggio's death,remembering him as a revolutionary artist whochanged the history of modern painting.

A recent exhibit in Rome marking his death'sanniversary and gathering some of his best-knownworks — such as "Bacchus," "The Cardsharps" andthe two versions of "Supper at Emmaus" — drewover half a million visitors.

The bones will be briefly transferred to the town of Caravaggio and then go on display for a few weeksin Porto Ercole.

"It's only right that on the 400th anniversary of hisdeath he is returned to the place where he died,"said Vinceti.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved.

2 / 3

APA citation: Italians think they have found Caravaggio's bones (2010, June 16) retrieved 16 February2019 from https://phys.org/news/2010-06-italians-caravaggio-bones.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, nopart may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

3 / 3