Hidden away for centuries, 17th century canvas by Italian master Caravaggio arrives in Capital

If an Italian Renaissance artist had to paint Vittorio Faustini, he would draw him with wings on his ankles like Mercury, the Roman messenger god also associated with speed, travel, and commerce.

- Dhamini Ratnam

MUMBAI: The 52-year-old has been on the road since 2019 with a remarkable early 17th-century work, Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, painted by Italian Baroque painter, Michelangelo Merisi, more popular as the hot-tempered master chiaroscurist, Caravaggio.

In November, Faustini was in Beijing. In April, he arrived in New Delhi. He has also travelled with the work to Basel, Switzerland, Osaka and Tokyo, and Paris, where it was part of a major exhibition at the Musée Jacquemart-André. On April 6, a temperature-controlled double insulated wooden crate bearing the painting was off-loaded at the New Delhi international airport. Accompanying it was a slightly tired Faustini whose home, at least for the next two hot months, will be the country's Capital.