The exhibition, Caravaggio’s Impact, runs from December 5-9, coinciding with next week’s Old Master auctions in London. Unlike the works that will go under the hammer at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, however, Johns offers a collection in a more accessible price bracket.
Johns describes the show as a selling exhibition to introduce people to “the possibility of owning a Caravaggesque work which is slightly more in the price bracket of those who don’t necessarily have a fortune to spend on an original work by Caravaggio.”
The selection of 17th and 18th century works reflects the impact the artist had on those who surrounded him. It includes works by those who studied with his followers, such as Luca Giordano who studied with his follower Jusepe de Ribera. It also demonstrates the wide use of chiaroscuro in paintings by Paulus Moreelse from Utrecht and Martin Ferdinand Quadal from Austria.
Other artists represented in the exhibition are Luca Ferrari, Antonio de Puga and Luca Giordano as well as one by Simone Peterzano, Caravaggio’s master when he was apprenticing in Milan.
With Caravaggio exhibitions currently taking place in the National Gallery in London and the Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio exhibiton at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York “the air seems filled with Caravaggio,” Johns says.
The exhibition takes place at the Shapero Gallery on London’s George Street, Johns’ first exhibition in this space.
Pieces priced from £10,000 to £100,000 and upwards.
