Caravaggio, “Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini,” c. 1599–1604. (Photo: Fabrizio Garrisi via Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0)
After more than a year of negotiations, the Italian state has bought a rare portrait by Caravaggio, the Baroque painter behind some of the world’s most famous artworks. The purchase, which clocked in at a whopping €30 million (about $35 million), stands as one of the country’s largest state investments for a single artwork, according to a statement from the Culture Ministry.
But the acquisition is not just significant because of its price tag. It’s also significant because of the painting’s complicated history. Completed in the early 1600s, the portrait depicts Monsignor Maffeo Barberini, a son of a Florentine nobleman who, in 1623, was later crowned as Pope Urban VIII. Barberini peers steadfastly toward the painting’s left side, and dons a black biretta and a sleeveless green cassock. His left hand clutches a letter while his right hand is outstretched, a lone finger pointing in the same direction as his gaze.
Caravaggio’s Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini had been in a privately owned collection in Florence for decades—that is, until it resurfaced two years ago. It was only in 2024 that the anonymous owner finally agreed to lend the artwork to Rome’s Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini, whose exhibition Caravaggio: The Portrait Unveiled showcased the portrait for the first time ever.
“This is the portrait by Caravaggio that everyone wanted to see for decades,” Thomas Clement Salomon, the museum’s director, told The New York Times in a 2024 interview. He further emphasized that point in The Art Newspaper: “This work is fundamental because you can count the number of portraits by Caravaggio on the fingers of one hand.”
Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini was originally attributed to Caravaggio in 1963 by the art historian Roberto Longhi, who provided critical insight into the artist’s output within and relationship to the portrait genre. In his article, Longhi praised the painting as “one of the founding moments of modern portraiture,” ushering in what he understood as a new psychological intensity.
The portrait will be housed in Barberini’s permanent collection and will be displayed alongside the institution’s other artworks by the Baroque painter, ranging from Narcissus to Judith Beheading Holofernes. “We have the most important collection of Caravaggio and Caravaggesque paintings in the world,” Salomon recently told artnet. “The portrait is extremely important for the Galleria Nazionale, even more so for the venue of Palazzo Barberini.”
The purchase is the latest in Italy’s broader efforts to strengthen its national heritage through publicly displayed masterpieces. Last month, for instance, the country acquired Antonello da Messina’s Ecce Homo for $14.9 million during a private sale at Sotheby’s New York.
“[Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini] is a work of exceptional importance,” culture minister Alessandro Giuli said in a statement. “This acquisition is part of a broader project to strengthen the national heritage with the aim of making art history masterpieces accessible that would otherwise be destined for the private market.”
After more than a year of negotiations, the Italian state has finally bought a long-lost Caravaggio portrait for $35 million.
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Sources: Italy buys Caravaggio painting for about $35 million, one of its largest payouts for a single work; Long-Hidden Caravaggio Portrait Acquired by Italy for $35 Million; Italy Acquires a Long-Hidden Caravaggio Portrait for $35 Million
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