US EditionItaly buys Caravaggio painting for about $35 million, one of its largest payouts for a single work
The Culture Ministry purchased the rare Caravaggio portrait for €30 million to enrich national heritage and make it accessible to the public and scholars, officials said.
- On March 10, Italy's Culture Ministry bought a rare Caravaggio portrait for 30 million euros and transferred it into the Palazzo Barberini's permanent collection in Rome.
- Following last week's purchase of Antonello da Messina’s 'Ecce Homo', Italy's Culture Ministry said it aims to strengthen national cultural heritage and prevent artworks from private markets, Giuli said.
- Painted around 1598, the portrait depicts Monsignor Maffeo Barberini, later Pope Urban VIII, clutching a letter with his left hand and making a right-hand gesture, authenticated in 1963 by Roberto Longhi and kept in a private Florence collection before its Palazzo Barberini exhibition in 2024.
- The ministry plans to buy more works in the coming months to make masterpieces available to scholars and enthusiasts, with Alessandro Giuli calling it one of "the most significant investments" and saying 'This is a work of exceptional importance'.
- Caravaggio's small surviving oeuvre includes only around 60 paintings, with just three known surviving Caravaggio portraits, highlighting the rarity of this chiaroscuro technique masterpiece.
67 Articles
67 Articles
Italy buys Caravaggio painting for about $35M
ROME — Italy has bought a rare portrait by baroque painter Caravaggio for 30 million euros (about $35 million), one of the largest state investments ever for a single artwork, the country's Culture Ministry said Tuesday.
Italy buys Caravaggio painting of future Pope for about $35 million, one of its largest payouts for a single work
ROME — Italy has bought a rare portrait by baroque painter Caravaggio for 30 million euros (about $35 million), one of the largest state investments ever for a single artwork, the country’s Culture Ministry said Tuesday. The portrait, painted around 1598 and attributed to Caravaggio in 1963, depicts Maffeo Barberini, a nobleman who later became Pope Urban VIII. The painting was acquired from a private collection by the Italian state after over a…
The Baroque master's work is exhibited in the Roman palace that once belonged to the nobleman shown in the portrait.
Italy buys Caravaggio painting for about $35 million
Italy's Culture Ministry says the government has bought a rare portrait by baroque painter Caravaggio for 30 million euros, one of the largest investments ever for a single artwork. The portrait, painted around 1598 and attributed to Caravaggio in 1963,…
Baroque bargain: Italy buys rare Caravaggio painting for €30 million
Italy has spent €30 million on a rare Caravaggio painting of a young man who went onto become Pope Urban VIII in a move to protect and strengthen its national cultural heritage and make art more accessible to scholars.
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