Studio International

Published 07/12/2006

The Royal Collection has been doing a bit of early spring cleaning in the vaults, in time for the Queen's Gallery's planned exhibition, 'The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection: Renaissance and Baroque'. Wow, look what fell out - not a copy, but an original Caravaggio from the first flashes of great Baroque art.  The painting 'The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew' has emerged from the grime of centuries as 'unquestionably' the original work. It was previously thought to be a copy of a lost original and without this, of course, one cannot be 100% certain of its authenticity. This must be one that Sir Joshua Reynolds missed out on (hard luck, Josh). Great works don't fall off the cart (or lorry) every day, or century. But this looks right.