The Last Caravaggio: how a once-forgotten masterpiece became the National Gallery’s latest coup
Nancy Durrant | The Standard | 8th April 2024
In London, just two works by Caravaggio is sufficient for a show. The painting of St Ursula, shows an “extraordinary” range of emotions. Having spurned the advances of a princely Hun, said prince shoots Ursula with an arrow. Here is Caravaggio at his cinematic best – dramatic lighting that emphasises faces and hands, an ashen Ursula, a furious yet anguished prince and, in the background, observing the violent act, Caravaggio himself. The artist died weeks later, possibly of malaria. “What a way to go out”.
