The case
The Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica present Caravaggio at Rome’s Palazzo Barberini from 7 March to 6 July 2025.
Source: Palazzo Barberini, Rome – 7 March – 6 July 2025
The commentary
Examining the context that drove Caravaggio to the forefront of world art, Palazzo Barberini puts these works on display, highlighting the power and modernity of the artist’s paintings that made him one of the greatest painting masters of all time. By bringing together some of his most celebrated works, alongside others that are lesser known but equally as significant, this exhibition offers new in-depth reflections on Caravaggio’s artistic and cultural revolution, exploring for the very first time and within such a broad context the innovation he injected into the artistic, religious and social landscape of the time.
A painting described as a lost Caravaggio masterpiece was bought two days before it was due to go under the hammer in France in June 2019. The painting, which had been found in the attic of a house in Toulouse, was snapped up by a foreign buyer, the auction house selling it informed at the time. Art expert Eric Turquin said it was worth between € 100 m and € 150 m, although several Italian specialists have expressed their doubts about the canvas.