The Private Life of an Easter Masterpiece: The Taking of Christ

A 2009 Arts Documentary narrated by Samuel West. Audio in English with subtitles for the Italian parts.

The extraordinary story of one of world's great, lost masterpieces: Caravaggio's "The Taking of Christ". This film traces the painting's journey from its birth in Rome in 1602 to its amazing re-discovery in 1990.

"The Taking of Christ" by Italian Baroque master Caravaggio today holds pride of place in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. Its subject is the arrest of Jesus, the moment when the son of God, is betrayed with a kiss - the Judas kiss. 400 years ago the painting was one of the most costly and celebrated artworks of its time, but in a confusion of discarded fashions and lost fortunes, it vanished. Its rediscovery is one of the most extraordinary detective stories in the history of art, traversing time, countries, war, social upheaval and family fortunes.