Caravaggio’s Nativity Theft
This crime is considered one of the most significant art crimes in history and the FBI named it in their Top 10 Art Crimes in 2005. The Italian police, the FBI, and Interpol all have been working to try to find this painting over the last 50 years. So yeah…… I’d say this one is a big deal.
Caravaggio’s Nativity with St. Frances and St. Lawrence
Of course, we have to cover the painting first. This work was created by (one of my favourite artists) Caravaggio in 1600. It was completed by him in Rome and then moved to Palermo one year before he died so it is one of his last works. It depicts, surprise surprise, the nativity and shows Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as well as saints Francis of Assisi and Lawrence, as one might imagine. One thing I didn’t know about it is that it. is. MASSIVE. It’s 2 meters wide and 2.7 meters high, though it makes sense when you remember it was created to hang in a church and they wanted everyone to be able to see it.
Before we move to the actual crime just take a moment and look at it, soak that in. Caravaggio really did that.
The Robbery
Ok, so you looked at it? Good! On to the part you came for. I will warn you that almost nothing is known about the theft itself. So for background, before this event, this painting had hung above the altar in the Oratory of St. Lawrence for THREE CENTURIES.
In early October, 1969 a woman allegedly had been asked by some suspicious people to let them into the church so they could admire the Caravaggio. She also noted that a window in the oratory was loose and asked the church to secure it but they decided that no action needed to be taken at the time.
Then on the night of October 17, 1969, two people broke into the church through that exact window, I am not sure how they know for sure it was two people but that’s what the FBI website says so I trust it, maybe they’re assuming that the canvas would be too large and heavy for one person to carry alone. They know that the painting was cut from its frame with either a knife or a razor blade and then maybe rolled up in the carpet that had always sat below it to be removed from the church. This is the last known whereabouts of Nativity with St. Frances and St. Lawrence.
Oh, and by the way, experts estimate the value of this piece at a cool $20 million USD.
As a side note, I really hope they didn’t roll the painting. Since it is hella old and paint hardens over time, rolling that canvas could have destroyed the painting or at the very least caused some serious cracks. Fingers crossed they just liked the rug and stole it on a whim.
The Theory
So my research really took me down some rabbit holes and I know I usually give you a round up of a bunch of theories in order to let you decide for yourselves but I’m taking the reins this time. There are about 10000 different stories about it being burned, or cut up, or sold, or buried, or shown off in a private home, however, what I’m about to outline is THE ONLY theory that holds any water in my opinion, all the theories that I came across seem to be versions of the same story anyways. Also, just a heads up, we’re going to be talking about the Sicilian Mafia. *insert Godfather quote here*
There is a lot of information here so I’ll try to distill it to the important points. Want to start off by saying that the source of this theory is none other than the parish priest of the oratory, Benedetto Rocco. Pretty trustworthy guy IMHO. He did a video interview in 2001 but he was too scared to let anyone see it until shortly before his death in 2013.
So the story starts with the theft, of course. A few months later Rocco received a letter at his home, so they know where he lives. It basically said, (please read this next part in a scary voice) “We have your painting, place this advertisement in the Giornale di Sicilia (the Sicilian daily paper) to show us that you’re ready to talk”. So Rocco took this to the superintendent of cultural affairs in Palermo and the ad was placed in the paper. Two weeks after that he received a second letter telling them to put another advertisement in the paper and this time the letter included a small piece of the canvas to prove that they actually had the painting. They were basically treating it like they would a kidnapping.
This time, when Rocco took the letter and piece of canvas to the superintendent, things were very different. The superintendent actually became suspicious of Rocco and reported him to the police! Safe to say that the second ad was never placed. Apparently the suspicion of Rocco was short lived and the superintendent ended up apologizing to him but the damage had been done and because this second ad was never placed in the paper he never received any other letters from the alleged thief.
In early 1970 another priest from Carini, 12 miles from Palermo, called him to say that he had seen Nativity. Apparently, in an absolutely insane story, he had also had a painting stolen from his church and he just asked the mafia for it back. But because, ya know they steal so many paintings, they forgot which one was his so they brought him two pictures of two paintings. One was his and one was Caravaggio’s Nativity with St. Frances and St. Lawrence. He calmly chose his painting and it was returned to him, sorry WHAT?
This story is so weird but it let Rocco know (or think) that the painting was in Carini. The mafia boss in Carini was Gaetano Badalamenti who was one of the most powerful mafia figures in Sicily. He was running a modest $1.65 billion heroin trafficking network to the US, so just a really wholesome guy. There are hella rumours around this guy and the painting, people say he had it hanging in his home and always showed it off at meetings, and, as the ultimate (terrible) flex some say he was even using it as a doormat when guests came over.
Rocco claims that he gave all of this information to the police in real time, as it was happening to him and he was learning it. However all files and mentions of his interviews have vanished from the Italian police archive. In this 2001 interview, Rocco claims that the Italian police knew all along that Badalamenti had the painting and were too scared of repercussions to do anything about it.
Unfortunately Rocco died in 2013, as I said, so any additional information he had is now lost. Badalamenti also died in 2004 so he is off the hook though someone in his family may know where the painting is, if it still exists.
Some think that the painting is in Switzerland with an art dealer, some think it never left Sicily and is still in the Badalamenti family, and some think it was buried or burned or otherwise destroyed.
Until 2015 the frame hung empty above the alter (a la Gardiner Museum) to remind people of what had happened there. Then in 2015 a very high quality reproduction was created using slides, photographs, and even glass plate negatives of the painting from its last restoration in 1951. Needless to say it is beautiful but it’s not the real thing. As time goes by people lose hope that it will ever be returned, but the FBI, Italian police and Interpol are still looking into every new lead and piece of information, hoping that it will turn up soon.
NOTE: This will be my last article before taking a little break. Hope everyone has a very safe, happy, and restful holiday and very best for a fresh start in 2021. Thank you for supporting my little blog and I can’t wait to continue posting in the new year.
Works Cited
“Theft of Caravaggio’s Nativity with St. Frances and St. Lawrence”. FBI. 2020. https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/nativity-with-san-lorenzo-and-san-francesco
Tondo, Lorenzo. “The ‘Kidnapped’ Caravaggio: How the Mafia Took a Razor Blade to a Masterpiece”. The Guardian. 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/sep/24/stolen-caravaggio-lost-video-sicilian-mafia-boss
Tondo, Lorenzo. “Theft of Caravaggio in Sicily Still Shrouded in Mystery 50 Years On”. The Guardian. 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/oct/17/stolen-caravaggio-artwork-sicily-mystery-50-years-on