Why a 16th-century Caravaggio artwork on display at the Bhau Daji Lad Museum is a landmark moment for Mumbai and the controversy around it

A rediscovered Caravaggio

Painted between 1604 and 1609, Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy is among Caravaggio’s final works, created during his turbulent years in exile after a fatal duel that forced him to flee Rome and stay in hiding. The artist died in 1610, just as the Pope had issued his pardon.

The painting, believed lost for centuries, resurfaced in 2014 as part of a private collection and was authenticated by a team of scholars, notably art historian Mina Gregori.

The artwork’s power lies in its raw humanity, depicting the saint not as divine perfection, but as a woman suspended between rapture and death. Mary Magdalene is shown alone against a featureless, dark background, caught in a ray of intense light, her head lolling back and eyes glistening with tears.

Curator Andrea Anastasio, Director of the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre in New Delhi, described it as “a profoundly moving work painted when Caravaggio was himself haunted by death. It captures surrender and devotion with extraordinary intensity — she rests on a skull, symbolising mortality, as if the artist identified completely with her suffering.”

X-ray studies of the painting revealed a hidden note between canvases stating it was painted for a cardinal, said Anastasio, adding that the model may have been a drowned woman Caravaggio encountered, lending the figure’s pallor and delicate decay a chilling realism.

Stating that his influence, through the dramatic chiaroscuro technique he pioneered, shaped generations of artists and transformed Western art, Anastasio added, “For those born in Rome, Caravaggio is part of everyday life. You can walk into a church and see four of his masterpieces.” Yet even for those familiar with his work, Magdalene in Ecstasy remains extraordinary for its intimacy and emotion.

A dialogue across cultures

At the Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Caravaggio’s Magdalene in Ecstasy is presented in dialogue with early 20th-century works by the Maharashtrian artist Rao Bahadur Mahadev Vishwanath Dhurandhar.

Museum Director and co-curator Tasneem Zakaria Mehta explained the pairing: “The exhibition offers visitors a rare opportunity to witness two artistic worlds converge. Both artists explore devotion — Caravaggio through Mary Magdalene’s divine surrender, and Dhurandhar through Usha’s love for Aniruddha from Hindu mythology. In both, sensual love becomes a metaphor for the spiritual.”

In Dhurandhar’s Usha and Aniruddha, Usha dreams of Krishna’s grandson, longs for him, and through divine intervention, meets and unites with him — only for her father, the demon king Banasura, to intervene. The story culminates in Krishna’s triumph, a symbolic victory of good over evil.

“Love, in both paintings, becomes a metaphor for overcoming ego,” Mehta noted. “It’s the path to divine transcendence.”

The journey of bringing masterpiece

“There aren’t many Caravaggios in the world,” noted Francesca Amendola, Director of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Mumbai. “This one has belonged to a private family for the last 300 years, and they were generous enough to allow it to travel.” Anastasio estimates only about 45 of Caravaggio’s works that are known to exist with most housed in museums and churches in Italy.

This painting, we learn, first travelled to China, and on its way back to Italy, it stopped in India for a series of events, and was first exhibited in Delhi and then Bengaluru before its arrival to Mumbai. After this, the painting will travel to Riyadh and then return to the family.

Bringing the painting to Mumbai was a complex process. “It was an emotional moment when we opened the box with the curator and handlers,” said Amendola. “We had tried earlier in the summer, but it hadn’t worked out. We can bring it during the monsoon due to high humidity. This time, everything fell into place. We worked very quickly and professionally — it took just four weeks to prepare.”

“Caravaggio’s presence in Mumbai is a testament to the excellence of India-Italy relations,” said Consul General Walter Ferrara at the inauguration. “Cultural diplomacy serves as a bridge between our countries, and events like this help nurture that partnership. This is a historic moment for Mumbai and a landmark exhibition for our bilateral cultural relations.”

The exhibition’s theme, light, carries deep resonance. “Light has always held profound meaning for both India and Italy,” Ferrara said, adding that the timing, too, is symbolic. “It is a happy coincidence that we are hosting this exhibition as we approach Diwali — the festival of lights.”

What’s the controversy

Among the earliest public exhibitions of this much-revered painting was in Tokyo in 2016, when Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy was featured as part of 11 other works attributed to Caravaggio at the National Museum of Western Art. Although the painting was authenticated earlier, many scholars remain unconvinced, suggesting it may be a high-quality 17th-century copy rather than the lost original. The debate resurfaced in 2018 when a museum in Paris displayed Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy beside Klein Magdalena, another depiction of the same subject, painted around the same period and rediscovered after the Second World War, which, too, had once been considered a possible Caravaggio.

The exhibition will be on view from October 16 to November 2 at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, from 10 am to 5:30 pm, except on Wednesdays and select public holidays.

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