Left to Right: Dr. Nora Stack, Dr. Marie Lea-Wilson, (poss. Jenny Nagle),
stables at Walkinstown House.
Family tree - Flanagan - The Caravaggio story |
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My aunt Peggy Flanagan got a christening present in 1934 of some jewellery (NOT silver spoons, as was previously thought) from her godmother, her mother's friend Dr. Marie Lea-Wilson, who, around the same time, gave an old painting to the Jesuits. She bought the painting sometime in the 1920s and gave it to the Jesuits sometime in the 1930s. She was not a collector or speculator - she liked it just because it was a nice religious painting. No one had any idea of its worth.
The painting hung for years unnoticed in the Jesuits' dining room in Leeson St, Dublin, until in 1993 it was sent to be cleaned and was dramatically identified as the lost masterpiece, The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio, worth tens of millions of dollars. It now hangs in the National Gallery.
It is a family joke now that one could imagine her deciding on presents: "Now, this nice painting for Peggy. No. I'll tell you what. I'll get her some nice jewellery. I'll give this old painting to the Jesuits. .."
Left to Right: Dr. Nora Stack, Dr. Marie Lea-Wilson,
(poss. Jenny Nagle),
stables at Walkinstown House.
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