Natural light in the architectural interior: Fake news on the Caravaggio of Palermo

Abstract

The paper investigates the mystery of a painting, Caravaggio’s The Nativity, and the scope of certain design devices implied in the interior/exterior relationship and described as a function of recognisable physical elements. For a long time, it was believed that this painting, placed on the altar of the oratory of San Lorenzo, was made in Palermo. It is a piece of fake news detected by interpreting and examining an architectural interior. Here, the value of natural light emerges, and we glimpse an irrefutable truth and therefore achieve an understanding of what happens when observing The Nativity and the oratory. What is the difference between recognising and identifying the arche, that is, precisely the signifying element between the painting and this architecture? It is the responsibility of the observer of a spatial device with “poetic potential”.