CARAVAGGIO
(b. 1571, Caravaggio, d. 1610, Porto Ercole)

The Taking of Christ

c. 1598
Oil on canvas, 133 x 171 cm
Museum of Western European and Oriental Art, Odessa

Though the attribution is still uncertain, perhaps this painting is the original known through a series of copies. In evaluating the composition we must bear in mind that the left side has been mutilated; but the tight rhythm, with which the curve that descends slightly toward the left also describes a normal rotation of the painting, is among Caravaggio's greatest creations. The artist's followers, and especially the Frenchman Valentin, would have liked this theme very much.