Caravaggio Nativity Art Theft and Caravaggio Nativity Copy Art Theft

Summary: The well-known Caravaggio Nativity art theft Oct. 18, 1969, has a little known successor in the Caravaggio Nativity copy art theft after Christmas 1986.

Noel Baron with her carefully created life-size copy of Caravaggio's Nativity; the ballerina and Caravaggio enthusiast's 1986 Christmas gift to the Archdiocese of Palermo, intended to heal the "people of Palermo" through placement in "the spot of the original" that had been stolen Oct. 18, 1969: Barry Baron, Press Release, via Wave Our Flag

A photograph from a slide of 1968 by Enzo Brai and a facsimile from Factum Arte since 2016 attest to the absence of a masterpiece, the Caravaggio Nativity, from its empty frame.

Installation ceremonies Dec. 12, 2016, of the digitized reproduction brought to the forefront a second misplacement or a second theft near or around the same premises. A life-size copy completed by Christmas 1986 for the Archdiocese of Palermo came after the Brai photograph and before the Madrid- and Rome-based Factum Arte facsimile. It derived from the love of ballerina Noel Baron (Jan. 6, 1952-July 6, 2006) for artworks by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Sept. 29, 1571-July 18, 1610).

The Baron copy emerges as its artist's self-described "greatest achievement" and expresses the "sacred promise" of exhibition by the Archdiocese, overseer of the Caravaggio Nativity's home.

Barry and Lynn Baron furnish space in their Mission Bay Park residence and neighboring, separate gallery for their sister's artworks and the Nativity copy's paper trail.

Paper trails generate 20 years of correspondence and documents gathered in the midst of almost 50 reproductions by the Joffrey Ballet Prima Ballerina turned self-taught painter. They hold correspondence with Gerlando Butti, Italian consulate director in Los Angeles, California, and Senior Special Agent Charles Koczka of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. They include correspondence of the La Jolla-based artist with Archbishop Salvatore Pappalardo (Sept. 23, 1918-Dec. 10, 2006) and with Peter Watson, author of The Caravaggio Conspiracy.

The shipping bill for $172.50 and written acknowledgment of receipt joins the written agreement for display in the mystery of the Caravaggio Nativity copy art theft.

Paper trails for Noel Baron's missing masterpiece, a careful reproduction of Caravaggio's stolen Nativity, include correspondence with intellectual historian Peter Watson, author of The Caravaggio Conspiracy; Peter Watson at iFest (International Festival and Conference), Barcelona, Catalonia, northwestern Spain, on July 11, 2008: David Alcubierre (Kedume), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr

Paper trails keep testament to Baron's motives in painting masterpieces in general and in reproducing the Caravaggio Nativity in particular and witness to the Archdiocese's reactions.

Her father Carl Baron's career as illustrator and print shop operator and encouragement of his children's touring Washington, D.C.'s National Gallery of Art launched Baron's artistry. Lynn mentioned her sister's promise as an eleven-year-old, "These paintings aren't going anywhere. No one else will ever own them. I'm going to paint my own." She noted the 34-year-old's "hope that this gift will bring you and the people of Palermo much happiness, faith, and peace for many years to come."

Baron archives offer the cardinal's assistant's observation on Baron's "exact copy, which will be placed, in the spot of the original in the next few days."

Transportation strikes put Baron just under 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) from the Oratory, whose staff's 14-year, inexplicable silence put her on the flight home in 2001.

Danielle Carrabino, associate research curator at Harvard Art Museums, and Pierfrancesco Palazzotto, Archdiocese museum assistant director, question Baron's copy ever queuing along Archdiocese and Oratory walls. Informants and photographs recall the Caravaggio Nativity art theft casualty whereas nobody in Palermo remembers either the Baron copy or the Caravaggio Nativity copy art theft. Family archives show Baron's, an agent's, a cardinal's assistant's, a consul's and Palermo carabinieri's (military police's) written interactions whereas the Archdiocese and Oratory suddenly show nothing.

Who took Noel Baron's 9- by 7-foot (2.74- by 2.13-meter) copy of the Caravaggio Nativity for the Oratory of San Lorenzo's altar wall in Palermo, Sicily?

A portrait of Archbishop Salvatore Pappalardo, with whom Noel Baron corresponded, marks his burial vault in the Cathedral of Palermo's Chapel of Santa Cristina; yet Noel Baron's 1986 Christmas gift is nowhere on display, not in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo's cathedral church, not in the Oratorio of San Lorenzo: Giacomo Augusto, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Noel Baron with her carefully created life-size copy of Caravaggio's Nativity; the ballerina and Caravaggio enthusiast's 1986 Christmas gift to the Archdiocese of Palermo, intended to heal the "people of Palermo" through placement in "the spot of the original" that had been stolen Oct. 18, 1969: Barry Baron, Press Release, via Wave Our Flag @ http://waveourflag.com/caravaggio_press_release.html

Paper trails for Noel Baron's missing masterpiece, a careful reproduction of Caravaggio's stolen Nativity, include correspondence with intellectual historian Peter Watson, author of The Caravaggio Conspiracy; Peter Watson at iFest (International Festival and Conference), Barcelona, Catalonia, northwestern Spain, on July 11, 2008: David Alcubierre (Kedume), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/kedume/2660971919/

A portrait of Archbishop Salvatore Pappalardo, with whom Noel Baron corresponded, marks his burial vault in the Cathedral of Palermo's Chapel of Santa Cristina; yet Noel Baron's 1986 Christmas gift is nowhere on display, not in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo's cathedral church, not in the Oratorio of San Lorenzo: Giacomo Augusto, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ritratto_del_card._Pappalardo-Pappalardo.jpg

For further information:

Ancestry.com. 2011. "Noel Baron in the U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014." U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.
Available @ http://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=xfu27&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&gss=angs-g&new=1&rank=1&msT=1&gsfn=noel&gsfn_x=1&gsln=baron&gsln_x=1&msddy=2006&gskw=ballerina&catbucket=rstp&MSAV=1&MSV=0&uidh=ft7&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=88717056&recoff=5%206&dbid=3693&indiv=1&ml_rpos=1

Baron, Barry. 23 February 2016. "Another 'Caravaggio' Has Gone Missing." WaveOurFlag.com > Media > Noel.
Available @ http://www.waveourflag.com/page13.html

Dibono, Misha. 17 March 2016. "La Jolla Artist's Painting at Heart of International Art Theft Mystery." Fox 5 San Diego > News.
Available @ http://fox5sandiego.com/2016/03/17/missing-art-mystery/

Marriner, Derderiu. 17 November 2017. "Caravaggio Nativity Art Theft: A Facsimile Until the Original's Return." Earth and Space News Blog. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/11/caravaggio-nativity-art-theft-facsimile.html

Schütze, Sebastian. 2017. Caravaggio: Complete Works. Cologne, Germany: Taschen.

Watson, Peter. 1984. The Caravaggio Conspiracy: A True Story of Deception, Theft, and Smuggling in the Art World. New York NY: Penguin/Doubleday.

Wave Our Flag. "Caravaggio Artist Noel Baron." YouTube. Feb. 4, 2014.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gc_LgPlwyg

Wilkens, John. 12 March 2016. "Copy of Stolen Masterpiece Also Vanished." The San Diego Union-Tribune > Entertainment > Visual Arts.
Available @ http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/visual-arts/sdut-caravaggio-nativity-reproduction-2016mar12-story.html