He Behold the man by Caravaggio that appeared at an auction in Madrid in March 2021 will be on display to the public, either at the Prado Museum — where it will remain in a special individual installation for the time being from May 28 to October 2024 — or at another institution. “The painting is not going to end up in the buyer’s house. He is very generous, he does not want attention to be focused on him. The idea is for it to be in public collections, for now, in the form of a loan,” explained Jorge Coll, head of the Colnaghi house (ancient art gallery), which has been in charge of the restoration, attribution and sale of the work. The price has been around 30 million euros, as several sources have confirmed to this newspaper. The canvas, which had several interested buyers, was sold by its previous owners, the family of liberal politician Evaristo Pérez de Castro, to an English collector and patron with a residence in Spain who has asked to remain anonymous. “There was a lot of interest in the painting, but it has not been negotiated with anyone else,” Coll said. The operation was closed after the summer of 2023.
The sale has had the approval of the Community of Madrid, an essential requirement, since the fabric, which had a starting price of 1,500 euros at the Ansorena auction due to an error in its attribution, is protected as an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) by the regional government since 2021. That same year, the Ministry of Culture declared it unexportable. These conditions have limited the sale price. “It is an entelechy, but in the international market it can be worth more than 100 million euros,” said Coll, an expert in the purchase and sale of ancient art. If Caravaggio’s hand is already a draw for the art market because he is the Baroque genius whose most of his work is considered lost, it is added that this painting is what is called in the sector a sleeper. That is to say, in 2021 a poorly attributed work appeared in Madrid, which was going to be sold at a ridiculous starting price, and which at that time did not have legal protection; Therefore, it was susceptible to being taken out of Spain and resold as many times as necessary. The Euromillion for whoever managed to get the painting.
In these three years, Coll and his partners and also dealers Filippo Benappi (Benappi Fine Art) and Andrea Lullo (Lullo Pampoulides), with whom the substantial commission from the sale will be shared, have received “a lot of interest” in the painting. “As the indispensable priority for the family [Pérez de Castro] is that it was exposed, this marked the sale,” Coll said. The final buyer, a contemporary art collector, agreed that the final destination of the painting should be the gallery of a museum and, initially, the Prado. “The most conservative decision was made based on this interest,” Coll stressed.
At the time the purchase offer was presented to the Community of Madrid, as established by the BIC requirements, both the regional Government and the Ministry of Culture and, therefore, the Prado Museum knew that the Behold the man It would not end up in one of the collector’s houses, but rather hanging in a room, as Coll has explained and has been confirmed by the portfolio led by Ernest Urtasun. Neither of these two institutions exercised their right to purchase for the price of around 30 million. “The State cannot pay that amount,” explain Culture sources, who celebrate that the painting spends nine months, for now, in the Prado.
The new owner gives the painting to the Madrid museum with a temporary loan modality with which the Prado ensures that it will be housed without having to pay a euro, museum sources reaffirm. Coll does not clarify what will happen once the nine-month period agreed with the art gallery expires. It refers to the will of the buyer and the future plans that Cultura may propose regarding the piece. The Ministry assures EL PAÍS that the work belongs to an individual and that, therefore, it will be their will that determines which will be the next room in which it is exhibited or whether it remains longer in the museum.
Rafael Mateu, legal advisor to the buyer and Colnaghi, as well as an art historian, explained to this newspaper that “the new owner wants the painting to go to other museums in Spain, Europe and other continents.” The lawyer has assured that the English collector has “the spoken commitment” – “There is no contractual plan”, he has specified – from the Ministry of Culture to grant the necessary temporary licenses for the painting to travel, for example, next year to Italy to participate in a major Caravaggio exhibition. As it is a BIC, it is the Ministry that must grant the license for the painting to leave Spain temporarily. If the work goes to other museums in national territory, it will be with the approval of the Community of Madrid. This future international and national journey agrees with a statement by Coll: “The buyer’s will is for it to be exhibited in a public collection that means access to the public, not just the state ones.”
First exposition
Negotiations between Colnaghi and the Prado Museum began at the end of December 2023 and were closed in January 2024, as confirmed by both parties. The owner made sure that from May 28 to October (there is no agreed day) the painting would be exhibited in its own room, as EL PAÍS confirmed this Monday. The temporary loan contract has been established at nine months with the possibility of extending this period. He Behold the man It can be visited in a space adjacent to the room dedicated to the Caravaggists. The objective is that, once this first deadline that ends in October has been met, the piece is integrated into the museum’s discourse until the nine-month period is completed and hangs in the space dedicated to the painter and his contemporaries.
Coinciding with the Prado exhibition, the book that tells the story of the discovery, restoration and attribution of this monument will go on sale on May 28. Behold the man. The catalog is signed by Maria Cristina Terzaghi (art historian), Keith Christiansen (curator of the Metropolitan Museum of New York), Gianni Papi (art historian) and Giuseppe Porzio (art historian at the University of Art), the greatest experts on Caravaggio of the world, the same ones who from the first moment agreed – an unusual consensus in the art world – that it was the hand of the baroque painter. “With the restored painting, the experts confirmed their initial instinct and, therefore, the authorship,” explained Coll.
The restoration, as explained by the collector, was carried out in the Colnaghi gallery in Madrid with the permission of the Community of Madrid. The painting, which is currently stored in a warehouse in Coslada, near the capital’s airport, was moved to the gallery owner’s headquarters, where a team of restorers led by the Italian expert Andrea Cipriani has been fixing the damage to the piece. . Under his command have been specialists such as Claudio Falcucci and Carlo Giantomassi, another relevant restorer who participated in the work on Michelangelo’s frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. “The work was good for being 400 years old and the ups and downs it has gone through,” said Coll. “It has been a grateful restoration in which the original measurements of the painting have been recovered.” The canvas will be exhibited at the Prado with a new frame, since it appeared without one at the Ansorena auction. “A vintage one has been chosen following the description that appeared in the first inventory of the painting,” detailed the gallery owner, who already in 2021 ruled out the possibility of it being restored in the Madrid museum. “The family considered all the possibilities and chose two of the best restaurateurs in the world,” Coll justified. The result can be seen by the public starting May 28.