This is a copy! Caravaggio's "Entombment" in Santa Maria in Vallicella

I walked into Santa Maria in Vallicella in Rome today, and the first Chapel on the right had this painting.

I thought, "How did I not know this was here? Why are there no guards?"

Then I saw this on the railing.

It is such a good copy, and one has to stand so far away, the chapel is dark, and it is an exact copy by an 18th century artist named Koch.

Apparently this painting was swiped by Napoleon in 1797 and the church commissioned a copy to replace it.  This is a pretty common practice.

Eventually the French returned the original to the Vatican where it is today.  

The original painting was completed around 1602–1604 for the Vittrice family chapel. Because the original quickly became famous, artists began copying it. One of these reproductions is the version often referred to in scholarship as the “Koch copy.”

I looked up the records to see if there are any anecdotes or contracts or records of the price specifically for the Koch version.  No luck, the contracts were all lost so I'm out of luck.

The copy is in a small chapel next to the right front entrance where the original Caravaggio was.  

Very little is known about the painter referred to as Koch in connection with the copy of Caravaggio’s "Entombment" at Santa Maria in Vallicella. He was most likely a minor painter working in Rome sometime after the original Caravaggio painting had been removed from the church. Artists like him were often hired to make careful copies of famous paintings for churches, collectors, or students of art.