Caravaggio’s never-before-exhibited portraits will go on display

A private portrait of Baroque master Caravaggio is on public display for the first time at the National Gallery of Ancient Art in Rome. The portrait of Bishop Maffeo Barberini, painted around 1599, will be displayed in the palace he built after his election as Pope Urban VIII in 1623.

Art historian Roberto Longhi first published the portrait in 1963 as an autographed work by Caravaggio. His research found that the painting remained in the Barberini family’s collection from the time it was painted until around 1935, when much of the great collection was dispersed. For decades it remained in Florence’s private collection and was never loaned to a museum or shown to the public. The owners are so secretive that they refuse to answer the phone or open their doors to Caravaggio experts. People who have written books and papers about Caravaggio, people who have seen other works he painted a thousand times, have never seen this painting. Even now they have finally agreed to loan it out for exhibition, the owners have chosen to remain anonymous.

Caravaggio’s works consist almost entirely of religious and mythological themes. While he is thought to have produced many portraits of Curia’s patrons, friends, and at least one lover while in Rome, only five of them (all of them clergy) are known to have survived. He painted a portrait of Barberini early in his career. One of the first three portraits in his catalog, it was an important step in the development of Caravaggio’s signature style. Art historian Giovan Pietro Bellori wrote in 1672 that Caravaggio first began to “intensify the darkness” in this portrait, creating the vivid contrasts of light and shadow that would define his work Characteristics of the “chiaroscuro” technique.

Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini depicts the figure seated in an armchair at an angle that pushes him out of the dark background into a beam of light. His misaligned eyes looked to one side and pointed in that direction with his right hand, while his left hand clutched a folded letter. His sideways glances and gestures indicate that he is engaging with someone to the right, and the intensity of his gaze and hands convey a dynamic naturalism that is unusual in portraiture of the time.

Caravaggio. Portrait unveiled The exhibition opens today at Sala Paesaggi in Palazzo Barberini and runs until February 23, 2025. The portrait will be placed in the same gallery as three other iconic works by Caravaggio, which are part of the museum’s permanent collection: narcissus (1597-1599), Judith and Holofernes (c. 1599), Meditations of St. Francis (1606-1607). For Caravaggio pilgrims, it’s a unique chance to see a bucket-list masterpiece they’ll likely never get the chance to see again, although Italian Culture Ministry officials are not hopeful that now the owners have made With a little concession, the state might be able to go a mile and convince them to sell.