Caravaggio's rare piece 'Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy' to come to India for first time

New Delhi: 'Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy', an iconic painting by Italian baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, will soon be available for Indian art and history enthusiasts for the first time at the Italian Cultural Centre here.

The painting, which was believed to be "lost" for centuries, will be showcased at the Italian Cultural Centre for a week from April 11, before moving to the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) in Saket.

"Caravaggio is believed to have created the painting in 1606 while in hiding to escape a death sentence. The painting was only known to people for centuries through its copies, it was missing till 2014," Andrea Anastasio, director of Italian Cultural Centre, told PTI.

After restoration and x-ray, the authenticity of the artwork was ascertained, he added.

Anastasio added that the painting's transportation is going to be difficult as it requires a temperature controlled container.

The painting depicts Mary Magdalen, a follower of Jesus Christ, who lived as a hermit in a cave at Sainte-Baume near Aix-en-Provence following his death.

According to the legends, "she ate nothing, her only nourishment being the food of the spirit, for she was transported by angels seven times a day into heaven where she heard, with her bodily ears, the delightful harmonies of the celestial choirs".

Head thrown back and bathed in an intense light, Mary in the painting is shown to be in the throes of a rapturous vision.

Even as the painting remained hidden for more than four centuries, several other paintings inspired by of the original surfaced in the years following Caravaggio's death in 1610, especially Artemisia Gentileschi's work of the same name.

The details of the exhibition at the KNMA are awaited.