A previously unseen Caravaggio portrait was unveiled in Rome on Friday, ahead of a special exhibition running through February 23 at Palazzo Barberini, the artist’s former home.
The work, depicting Monsignor Maffeo Barberini, is the centerpiece of “Caravaggio, The Portrait Revealed”. It comes to light through a rare loan from a private collection where it has been held since the 1960s.
“It is the Caravaggio painting that everyone has wanted to see for years,” Thomas Clement Salomon, director of the National Galleries of Ancient Art, said in a media interview.
“It has never been exhibited, lent, or the subject of exhibitions”, Salomon, who curated the exhibit with Paola Nicita, added.
Massimo Osanna, the Italian culture ministry’s general director of museums, called the event “epochal,” adding, “Maffeo Barberini is coming home.” He praised Salomon for making the exhibition possible.
While the painting itself is not newly discovered, Nicita noted that it had only been seen by a handful of specialists since art historian Roberto Longhi first identified it as Caravaggio’s work in 1963. Portraits by Caravaggio are exceptionally rare, with many either lost or unaccounted for.
In the painting, Barberini, shown in his 30s, wears a biretta and a green cassock over a white robe. A roll of documents rests on the arm of his chair, with the signature contrasts of light and shadow and diagonal lines that characterize Caravaggio’s style.
The exhibition also offers a chance to resolve some lingering questions, particularly regarding the painting’s dating and provenance. Nicita believes it was created between 1598, when Barberini became the pope’s chamberlain; and 1603, when he was sent as an ambassador to Paris.
Asked whether the portrait could remain permanently at Palazzo Barberini, Salomon called it “a dream”. Osanna added, “Sometimes dreams come true. We are working to ensure that its fruition is increasingly wider.” (ANSA)
