For the first time, a portrait by Caravaggio is exhibited

Rome. A portrait of the Baroque painter Caravaggio, kept in a private collection since its discovery more than 60 years ago, is being shown to the public for the first time in a museum in Rome.

Caravaggio, whose real name was Michelangelo Merisi, was a master of the chiaroscuro technique to bring his sitters to life. He died in 1610, aged just over 30, after a turbulent life.

In 1963 he was attributed the portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini, who in the 17th century would become Pope Urban VIII, a great patron of the arts who had the sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini among his protégés.

Since that moment it had never been seen in any museum, it had never been lent to an exhibition, so it is the first timeindicated yesterday Thomas Clement Salomon, director of the National Galleries of Ancient Art.

It is one of the few surviving portraits of Caravaggio, as most have been lost or destroyed.

It will be on display until February 23, 2025, according to the museum.

Only very few specialists since the 60s (of the last century) have had the opportunity to see it in person, and it is one thing to know the painting through photographs and another to see it live, and realize its quality, its almost magnetic power.commented conservative Paola Nicita. Barberini’s portrait is believed to have been painted in the early 17th century.

The museum displaying the work is located in the Barberini Palace, built during the papacy of Urban VIII by Bernini and his fellow Baroque architect Carlo Maderno, and which remained in the family until after World War II.