Video Documentaries

Art experts attempt to recreate Caravaggio's 17th century masterpiece The Adoration, which was stolen from the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo, Italy, on 18 October 1969.     Mystery of the Lost Paintings ep. 7 - Mystery of the Lost Caravaggio The Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence (also known as The Adoration) is a painting believed to have been created in 1609 by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio. Recent discoveries link the painting to that commissioned by Fabio Nuti in April 1600, and thus sent from Rome to Palermo. It was stolen on October 18, 1969 from the Oratorio di San Lorenzo in Palermo, Sicily. The painting, which hung above the altar, was large, measuring almost six square metres (actual size 268 cm x 197 cm). Probably because of its size, it was removed from its frame by the thief or thieves (two suspected) before being taken out of the church. After it was stolen, the Oratory was pillaged of other art, along with choir stalls of carved and gilded wood ...

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi left his birth town of Caravaggio in the north of Italy to study as an apprentice in nearby Milan. In 1593 he moved to Rome, impatient to use his talents on the biggest stage possible. Caravaggio's approach to painting was unconventional. He avoided the standard method of making copies of old sculptures and instead took the more direct approach of painting directly onto canvas without drawing first. He also used people from the street as his models. His dramatic painting was enhanced with intense and theatrical lighting. Caravaggio's fate was sealed when in 1606 he killed a man in a duel. He fled to Naples where he attempted to paint his way out of trouble, he became a Knight, but was then imprisoned in Malta and then finally he moved to Sicily. He was pardoned for murder in 1610, but he died of a fever attempting to return to Rome. Power of Art episode 1 The power of the greatest art is the power to shake us into revelation and rip us from our de...

Caravaggio Of all the great artists, Caravaggio seems to speak most intensely to the modern world. He lived a brief and tumultuous life, mocking authority and even murdering a man; he spent four years on the run, a fugitive from justice, but he always painted, bringing religious art to life in paintings so powerful and naturalistic that some saw them as miracles in themselves. In the programme Tim Marlow looks at paintings such as The Musicians, a melancholy celebration of music with a slight erotic edge, and as well as The Conversion of St. Paul, an expression of the artist’s deep religious sensibility. Great Artists This major 26-part series takes a fresh look at the most important artworks of some of the greatest artists in history. Shot on location in over fifty museums, churches and palaces throughout Europe and the United States, this series is a comprehensive survey of the history of Western art. Both intelligent and informative, it's the perfect introduction to the art of t...