A recent discovery by a pair of Italian art historians, Maurizio Bernardelli Curuz, the artistic director of the Brescia Museum Foundation, and his co-researcher colleague, Adriana Conconi Fedrigolli, of a collection of 100 works claimed to be from a student Caravaggio could be worth around $900 million if proven such works are authentic.
The works from the collection have long been credited to master Milanese artist Simone Peterzano, who taught numerous pupils in the late 1500s, including Caravaggio, at the time known as Michelangelo Merisi.
In an LA Times article, Francesca Rossi, curator of the collection, is identified as informing the Associated Press that the art historian pair never accessed landmark Sforzesco Castle in Milan, where the drawings are maintained.
Curuz explains that he and his colleague worked primarily from photographs with after-hours access to the collection without identifying from whom.
Critics in the art world assert that the estimate of the 100 works could be inflated and that none of the alleged Caravaggio works evidence certain distinct features for which Caravaggio is known, i.e., vivid still life, contrast of light and dark, or scandalous religious themes.
An expert in 16th-Century art who is already familiar with the Peterzano collection, Claudio Strinati, is quoted in the LA Times as describing the drawings as “exercises of no artistic importance,” even if they originated from Caravaggio. Strinati added “[i]n the best of hypotheses maybe some were done by Michelangelo Merisi but none by Caravaggio.”
Cruz and Fedrigolli spent two years analyzing the 1,400 piece Peterzano collection using computer software to assist in identifying similiarities between the art school drawings and Caravaggio’s more mature style. A publication of a pair of e-books by the art historian duo in support of their claim that the works are Caravaggio’s is forthcoming.