4_5891208568916412700.pdf

How creating wildlife crossings can help reindeer, bears – and even crabs
Level: Intermediate
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Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
‘Damn, this is a Caravaggio!’: the inside story of an old master found in Spain
Level: Intermediate
Warmer
a. Match the famous painters with their nationalities. What do you know about them and
their work?
1. Caravaggio a. Norwegian
2. Vincent Van Gogh b. French
3. Pablo Picasso c. Italian
4. Paul Cézanne d. Belgian
5. Edvard Munch e. Dutch
6. René Magritte f. Spanish
Key words
a. Find the following words in the text. The paragraph numbers are given to help you.
1. a noun meaning an event where things are sold to the people who offer the most money
(para 2)
2. a verb meaning introduce something such as a new law and force people to accept it
(para 2)
3. an adjective meaning knowledgeable and trustworthy (para 3)
4. a noun meaning a place to look at paintings and other art (para 3)
5. a plural noun meaning brothers and sisters (para 5)
6. a verb meaning receive something when someone has died (para 5)
7. a verb phrase meaning find out the true explanation for something
(five words, para 6)
8. a verb meaning explain something more clearly so that it is easier to understand
(para 6)
9. a verb meaning say something is true, even without definite proof
(para 7)
10. a noun meaning an extremely lucky and normally impossible event
(para 9)
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How creating wildlife crossings can help reindeer, bears – and even crabs
Level: Intermediate
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Level: Intermediate
Lorenzo Tondo and Sam Jones
23 April, 2021
On 24 March, Massimo Pulini, a professor of
fine art, received an email request from a friend
to value a painting. The email included a photo
of the painting. It took Pulini just six minutes
to realize that the small oil painting could be
worth millions. “Damn! This is a Caravaggio!
Where the hell did you find it?”
The painting, which people thought had been
painted by a 17th-century Spanish artist, was
in an online catalogue for an auction in Madrid
with a guide price of 1,500 Euros. However,
when the story came out that it might be a
Caravaggio painting, the Spanish culture
ministry imposed an export ban. The painting
was removed from the auction.
Pulini, a painter and an authoritative art
historian, described his identification of the
painting and the attempts to bring it back
to Italy. The email had come from Giancarlo
Ciaroni, a gallery owner from Milan and one of
Italy’s best-known fine art dealers.
“For years, I’ve had friendly relations with
hundreds of collectors and fine art dealers,”
Pulini said. “They send emails with photos
of paintings. They want me to value the
painting or simply say what I think about it.
When I saw the painting, I couldn’t believe my
eyes,” he said. “I knew instantly that this was
a Caravaggio.”
A few days later, Ciaroni managed to get a
meeting in Madrid with the painting’s owners,
three siblings who said they had inherited it
from their father. Ciaroni said he was willing
to spend up to 500,000 Euros but didn’t tell
them that it was a Caravaggio. It was when
the family said they had already received two
separate offers of 3m Euros that he realized the
secret was out.
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The owners were now determined to get to
the bottom of the mystery. At first, they had
intended to auction the painting at a base
price of 1,500 Euros, but they now had three
huge offers. “They were confused. Almost
frightened,” said Ciaroni. “I asked for 15
minutes of their time to clarify the situation and
made photocopies of a 16-page essay that
Pulini had written after he received the image
of the painting.”
In the essay, Pulini identified the work as
The Crowning with Thorns, painted by
Caravaggio in 1605. “I provided specific details
that confirmed the painting was the work of
Caravaggio,” Pulini said. “I wrote the essay
and sent it to Ciaroni.” When Ciaroni returned
with copies of Pulini’s essay, the auction house
director took it and began reading it aloud. The
opening sentence claimed the painting was a
Caravaggio. “The owners’ faces turned pale,”
Ciaroni said. “They were speechless. Their
father had bought the painting in the 1970s
and for 50 years they had no idea that hanging
in their home was a Caravaggio that could be
worth millions.”
The painting was removed from the auction
and, together with the export ban, the Madrid
regional government gave it additional
protection by declaring it an item of cultural
interest. Experts from the Prado Museum are
waiting to examine the painting before they say
for certain that it is a Caravaggio.
Whatever happens, Pulini says it is a miracle
that the painting has survived and remained
intact. As for Ciaroni, he says he realized
he could no longer buy it. “It was a thrilling
adventure,” he said. “For a few hours, while
on my way to Spain, I thought that it was
already mine.”
© Guardian News and Media 2021
First published in The Guardian, 23/04/2021
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Level: Intermediate
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Comprehension check
a. Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the article? Correct any that are false.
1. When he saw the photo of the painting, Massimo Pulini didn’t realize it was a Caravaggio. T / F
2. People thought a Spanish artist had painted the picture in the 17th century. T / F
3. Pulini has good relations with people who buy, sell or collect fine art. T / F
4. Giancarlo Ciaroni is an Italian painter. T / F
5. The painting’s owners got the painting when their father died. T / F
6. They had received three offers of 1,500 Euros for the painting. T / F
7. Pulini believes Caravaggio painted the picture in 1605. T / F
8. The owners of the painting were astonished when they heard it could be worth millions. T / F
9. Experts from the Madrid regional government will decide whether the painting is really
a Caravaggio. T / F
10. Pulini isn’t surprised that the painting has survived for so long. T / F
Using key language
a. Match the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to make two-word
phrases from the text.
1. art a. request
2. fine b. house
3. oil c. owner
4. email d. historian
5. online e. art
6. auction f. ban
7. gallery g. catalogue
8. export h. painting
Discussion
a. Discuss these statements.
• “It’s crazy that old paintings are worth so much money.”
•
“If you buy or inherit a famous historical painting, it should be yours and not your country’s.
The export ban is unfair.”
• “Traditional art is much better than modern art. Modern artists aren’t as talented.”

Level: Intermediate
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Home Adults General English NEWS LESSONS
6
In your own words
a. Search on the internet to find out more about Caravaggio and his paintings. Choose one of
his paintings and write a short report (150–200 words) summarizing your findings. Include
the following:
• what the name of the painting is
• when it was painted
• what it shows
• where it is displayed / who the owner is

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Level: Intermediate – Teacher’s notes
Article summary: The article describes how
a small painting found in Spain could be worth
millions.
Time: 60 minutes
Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing
Language focus: Vocabulary
Materials needed: One copy of the
worksheet per student
1. Warmer
a. The purpose of this activity is to introduce the
topic of fine art and for students to use a process
of elimination to match the painters with their
nationalities. It is likely that they will have heard of at
least one or two of the artists in the list and linguistic
clues will possibly help them identify the nationalities
of the others. The painters in the list also feature
in the In your own words activity at the end of
the lesson.
Key:
1. c
2. e
3. f
4. b
5. a
6. d
2. Key words
a. Ask students to do the exercise individually and
then compare their answers in pairs or small groups.
Encourage students to use some of this vocabulary
actively by asking them questions such as ‘What is
the most famous art gallery in the world?’, ‘What kind
of things do people buy at an auction?’ and ‘How
many siblings do you have?’ The phrase ‘get to the
bottom of’ is used when people what to understand
something that has happened but has not been
explained. For example, the police may want to get
to the bottom of a particular crime or people may
want to get to the bottom of a particular mystery
(e.g. why someone disappeared or why something
strange happened).
Key:
1. auction
2. impose
3. authoritative
4. gallery
5. siblings
6. inherit
7. get to the bottom of
8. clarify
9. claim
10. miracle
3. Comprehension check
a. The answers given are only suggested answers
and students may correctly answer the questions in
different ways, e.g. in number 1 they may simply say
‘just a few minutes’ or similar.
Key:
1.
False. He knew instantly that it was a
Caravaggio. It took him six minutes to realize it
could be worth millions.
2. True.
3. True.
4. False. He’s a gallery owner and art dealer.
5. True.
6.
False. They had received three huge offers
(two offers of 3 million Euros and an offer of
500,000 Euros).
7. True.
8. True.
9.
False. Experts from the Prado Museum will
do this.
10. False. He thinks it is a miracle.

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Level: Intermediate – Teacher’s notes
6. In your own words
a. Students should find some basic information about
Caravaggio’s work online, following the guidelines
given. They may, of course, introduce other
information if they wish to. Both the preparation and
the writing could be done as homework activities.
The students’ findings could either be corrected as a
piece of writing or students could use the information
to make a short presentation about their chosen
painting to the group, showing and explaining the
painting they chose.
4. Using key language
a. Students could be asked to do this exercise
individually and then compare their answers in
pairs. Ask students to refer back to the text to check
their answers. Alternative answers may be possible
(e.g. auction catalogue) but students need to make
the two-word phrases from the text.
Key:
1. d
2. e
3. h
4. a
5. g
6. b
7. c
8. f
5. Discussion
a. Allow students time to note down their ideas about
each statement and encourage them to say why they
agree or disagree with each one.

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