Italy‘s Culture Ministry has announced a landmark acquisition, purchasing a rare Caravaggio portrait for €30 million (£25.9 million).
This represents one of the state’s most significant investments in a single artwork.
The painting, dating from around 1598 and attributed to the baroque master in 1963, depicts Maffeo Barberini, who later became Pope Urban VIII.
Following over a year of negotiations, the artwork was secured from a private collection and will now join the permanent collection at Rome’s Palazzo Barberini.
“This is a work of exceptional importance,” culture minister Alessandro Giuli said in a statement, noting the painting was a turning point in Caravaggio’s modern rediscovery and its purchase has helped strengthen the presence of his works in Italian public collections.
The new acquisition follows a recent one of Antonello da Messina’s Ecce Homo, and is part of Italy’s broader project to strengthen the national cultural heritage, making some art history masterpieces accessible to scholars and the public.
The portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini depicts the future pope in his 30s, dressed as a cleric of the Apostolic Chamber, at a crucial moment in his rise to power.
The work was made famous by art critic Roberto Longhi in his 1963 article The True ‘Maffeo Barberini’ Of Caravaggio, and has since been widely recognised by critics as a work by Caravaggio, also known as Michelangelo Merisi.
Longhi called the painting “one of the founding moments of modern portraiture”, emphasising how Caravaggio ushered in a new psychological intensity.
Caravaggio revolutionised painting at the turn of the 17th century by introducing a dramatic use of light that became the cornerstone of the Baroque style.
He is currently one of the most studied artists in the world, yet the number of his confirmed works remains extremely limited.
At Palazzo Barberini, the portrait will be displayed alongside Caravaggio’s other works – one of the world’s most important collections – in particular alongside another of Caravaggio’s masterpieces, Judith Slaying Holofernes, also purchased by the Italian state in 1971.