In Italy, a painting by Caravaggio revealed to the general public for the first time

The Barberini Palace, one of the very beautiful museums in Rome, is exhibiting from Saturday November 23 a painting by Caravaggio, almost never seen until now. The portrait of Maffeo Barberini belongs to a private owner. A room in the museum is reserved for him.

For Alessandro Zuccari, one of the Italian specialists on Caravaggio, “it's really a stupor, like a gift before Christmas ! We had been waiting for years for the exhibition of this painting, which we only knew in photos but which no one in my generation had seen.”

Maffeo Barberini, who would become pope, wears a dark green cassock, he poses seated in three quarters, a letter clenched in his left hand, the index finger of his right hand pointing towards the outside of the painting
“The light is already that of Caravaggio, but with less contrast than in later worksexplains Alessandro Zuccari. The gestures are very eloquent, as always, and this look so lively !”

This painting comes “home”. Because it belonged to the immense Barberini collection. But old aristocratic families sometimes need money : in the 1930s, the portrait was sold. The State, which could have opposed it in the name of heritage protection, does not do so. Because “Caravaggio was not given as much importance at the time”underlines Paola Nicita, curator of the exhibition.

His painting is close to our contemporary sensibility, but until the 1930s, unlike Botticcelli for example, he was not considered an extraordinary painter.”

Paola Nicita

at franceinfo

It was two art critics who found traces of the painting in 1963. At a dealer or private ? They don't say it. They photograph him. It’s definitely a Caravaggio. Since then, almost no one had seen him.

The director of the museum convinced the Italian family who owns it today to lend it for a few months. Could it be permanently exhibited or even acquired by the State? ? “For the moment it's a dream, said Thomas Clement Salomon. We're trying to turn the dream into reality.” For now, The portrait of Maffeo Barberini is visible until February 23.