My ancestors - Flanagan - Contents
The Caravaggio story
- References:
- Caravaggio - The Master Revealed, Sergio Benedetti, [NGI], 1993.
- Feature on the Caravaggio, Irish Times, 6th Nov 1993.
- Sources yet to be consulted:
- The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece, Jonathan Harr (2005). This may be made into a movie.
The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio.
See full size. From Wikipedia.
My aunt Peggy Flanagan got a christening present in 1934 of some jewellery (NOT silver spoons) from her godmother, her mother's friend Dr. Marie Lea-Wilson.
Around the same time, c. early 1930s,
Dr. Marie Lea-Wilson
gave an old painting to the Jesuits.
She had bought the painting in 1921.
She was not a collector or speculator
- she liked it just because it was a nice religious painting.
No one had any idea of its worth.
The painting hung for decades
unnoticed in the Jesuits' dining room in Leeson St, Dublin,
until in 1993 it was sent to be cleaned
and was dramatically identified as the lost masterpiece,
The Taking of Christ
by Caravaggio,
worth tens of millions of dollars.
It now hangs in the
National Gallery.
It is a family joke now that one could imagine her deciding on presents: "Now, this nice painting for Peggy. No. I'll tell you what. I'll get her some nice jewellery. I'll give this old painting to the Jesuits. .."
Left to Right: Dr. Nora Stack, Dr. Marie Lea-Wilson,
garden at Walkinstown House.
Left to Right: Dr. Nora Stack, Dr. Marie Lea-Wilson,
(poss. Jenny Nagle),
stables at Walkinstown House.
