From Arts Gallery. net 8/2/08 ODESSA, UKRAINE - Caravaggio’s Taking of Christ, or the Kiss of Judas was stolen from the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in the Black Sea port of Odessa. Museum staff found that the work was missing from its frame. The thieves cut it from its frame. The museum was closed on the previous day, so the thieves could have stolen it from Tuesday evening. According to police, the thieves entered the museum through a window and bypassed the alarm system by removing a window pane instead of breaking it. After taking the work from its frame, the thieves fled through the roof. Vitaly Abramov, deputy head of the Odessa Art Museum, said, “This is a cultural catastrophe, a national tragedy. There is so little of art of such level in the former Soviet Union. You cannot put a price on this and I am not talking about money here. It is, in every sense, priceless.” "We came in here to find that the wind was blowing the blinds around through a window with no pane." Lyudmila Saulenko, the museum's deputy director told reporters.
INTERESTING.... here's another account:
[badly written] Article from cbcnews.ca
Caravaggio painting stolen in Ukraine Last Updated: Friday, August 1, 2008 | 4:36 PM ET
Art officials in Ukraine are bemoaning the theft of a Caravaggio painting this week. The chiaroscuro work [sic believe it or not. chiaroscuro has been adjectivized!] alternately known as The Taking of Christ and The Kiss of Judas, was stolen some time between Tuesday night and early Thursday morning from a museum in Odessa. Authorities believe that the thief or thieves bypassed the outdated alarm system by removing panes of glass to enter the facility."The alarm did not go off because the windows had not been broken," Odessa police Chief Vladimir Bossenko told the Interfax news agency.According to a report from Reuters, museum staffers arrived at work on Thursday to discover the late-16th century painting had been removed from its frame.The museum was closed on Wednesday, so it is unknown exactly when the robbery took place.Vitaly Abramov, an executive at another Odessa art museum, called the theft "a cultural catastrophe" and "a national tragedy."The value of the painting is unknown, however a version of the same artwork hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland in DublinThough the authenticity of the painting has been questioned (it was considered a version by a student of Caravaggio's), a Soviet art expert declared in 1950 that the work was indeed one by the Italian Baroque master (for realz? i am skeptical).The painting, which depicts Jesus being dragged by soldiers after being kissed by his disciple Judas, underwent restoration in 2006.
and some hilarious comments on it:
8/1/08 Orwell wrote:
" Jonathan Carr's book, The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece, published in 2005, reveals by way of a detaile d journey through the provenance of that the original painting that "The Taking of Christ" (not a "version" as stated in the news story) is in fact the one in Dublin. The painting stolen from the museum in the
8/8/08 Geez-Louise wrote: The author of "The Lost Painting" is actually Jonathan HARR.
Both of these people seem a tad officious and pedantic, but it just cracks me up that a person chooses the name "Geez-Louise" and then USES CAPS . perhaps an over reaction? perhaps?
As wikipedia will tell you, the original Taking of Christ was thought to be lost for many years until an art historian happened upon it on a dusty wall in a house where Jesuit priests etc lived in Ireland. The painting was thought to be just some random bad copy of the infamous painting, but when removed from the wall and restored carefully and arduously it looked as though it could be the real deal. A huge amount of reasearch on the part of two grad students in italy corroborated its authenticity. The original now sits in the National Gallery of Art in Dublin. So, the painting that was stolen from the ukranian museum is now considered to be copy by one of C 's followers.
so this brings us to... the end of this subject for now. hopefully updates will be forthcoming?
-mademoiselle lyss
