Exhibition of the year: 'Caravaggio: The Final Years'

Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples (as 'Caravaggio: L'Ultimo time 1606-1610'), 23 October 2004-6 February 2005 National Gallery, Londoon, 23 February-22 May.

Attendance: 200979 (Naples); 244955 (London) Reviewed in April 2005

'Caravaggio: The Final Years' fulfilled the primary measure of a fine exhibition: it brought together great works of art, ranging from the Denial of St Peter (New York) to The Raising of Lazarus (Messina). a certain number of comparisons incisively demonstrated the thesis of the exhibition, of the like kind as the hanging together, for the first time, of the National Gallery's evening meal at Emmaus (1601) with the Brera's version (1606) which reveals the painter's increasing use of darkness and indistinctness, oftentimes characterised as his 'late style' Other comparisons emphasised his continuing links with patrons despite his itinerant life. These dialogues between works formed in move round an inspiration for future scholarship--as Sheila McTighe wrote in APOLLO, 'the beatification of this exhibition is that it raises as many novel possibilities for interpreting these works as it raises puzzling questions'. For instance, the Naples Flagellation of Christ contradicts the belief that Caravaggio cultivated a consistent 'late style' Meanwhile, the Nancy Annunciation appeared abundant more likely to be

authentic when hung nearest to the Adoration of the Shepherds than through itself. These questions were augmented in Naples by the agency of the speculative inclusion of works of debated attribution, of the like kind as a John the Baptist Drinking from a Fountain (private collection, Rome) The London version had an additional asset above and above the scholarship and assembly of great works that distinguished in the way that many exhibitions in 2005--sensitive and original lighting. In the galleries, the curator, Dawson Carr (who has studied place design), replicated the paintings' contrasts of dark backgrounds with powerfully illuminated figures (see illustration). Perhaps greatest in quantity satisfying were the pools of darkness around the London Salome with the Head of John the Baptist and the Flagellation. Although this lighting occasionally washed on the outside details or emphasised abrasion, the overall ambience was redolent of the works themselves. It was also an inspired use of the subterranean Sainsbury Wing, whose regrettable lack of daylight was here transformed into an advantage.

SHORTLISTED EXHIBITIONS

'From Filippo Lippi to Hero della Francesca: Fra Carnevale and the Making of a Renaissance Master' Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, 13 October, 2004-9 January; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, novel York, 1 February-1 May. Attendance: 106028 (New York) Reviewed in APOLLO, April 2005

'Antony Caro' Tate Britain, London 26 January-17 April Attendance: 76423 Reviewed in APOLLO, March 2005: 'The Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain commonly hold a big surprise This is the debut of Millbank paces eighty-one-year-old Caro's latest work. It is the first of several surprising vistas displayed by curator Paul Moorhouse for his Caro exhibition.'

'Art of Ethiopia' Sam Fogg at Pace Wildenstein, fresh York, 18-29 October. Previewed in APOLLO, October 2005 A specialist in medieval art, Sam Fogg stages exhibitions in London and fresh York that are in the great tradition of the scholarly dealer: each has a catalogue that is a substantial contribution to knowledge. This was the first selling exhibition in the USA of Ethiopian art.

'Bernardo Bellotto genant Canaletto: Europaische Veduten' The Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 16 March-19 June Attendance: 150000 Reviewed in APOLLO June 2005: 'Bellotro is confirmed as single of the most accomplished and attractive vedusti of eighteenth-century Europe in an exhibition distinguished by dint of its clarity and compactness.'

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