On Canvas, Authority Unleashed: Caravaggio’s Taking of Christ

In 2002, I spent a night in jail after getting swept up in a raid on a tiny Mexican cantina. It was not the first or last time I was locked up. It was not the first or last time I was handcuffed and taken away for no good reason.

Presa di Cristo nell’orto or Cattura di Cristo (the taking of Christ), 1602, by Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio.

The operation was spearheaded by some 40 riot police with shields, ski masks, and machine guns. Cops outnumbered patrons…