Italy Buys Rare Caravaggio Portrait of Future Pope Urban VIII for €30m, Securing It for Palazzo Barberini
A portrait by Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) has entered Italy’s public patrimony after the state acquired the work for €30 million, a figure officials described as among the highest sums the country has ever paid for a single artwork.
The painting, a portrait of Maffeo Barberini, was purchased following more than a year of negotiations with its private owners in Florence, according to a statement from Italy’s culture ministry. It will join the permanent holdings of Palazzo Barberini in Rome, the former family residence that now houses the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica.
“This is a work of exceptional importance,” Italy’s culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, said in the ministry statement, framing the acquisition as a way to keep a major Caravaggio from being absorbed into the private market. “We had the objective of making an artistic masterpiece that would otherwise be destined for the art market accessible to scholars and enthusiasts.”
Painted between 1598 and 1603, the portrait shows Barberini bearded and intent, papers gathered in one hand while the other extends in a pointed gesture that reads as instruction or command. The sitter would later become Pope Urban VIII, one of the era’s most influential patrons, and the commissioner of Palazzo Barberini, completed in 1633.
Despite the subject’s prominence and the artist’s global stature, the work has been seen publicly only rarely. The portrait was first attributed to Caravaggio in 1963 by the art historian Roberto Longhi. Since that attribution, it has been exhibited just once: it went on view at Palazzo Barberini in November 2024, ahead of a three-month Caravaggio exhibition at the museum, and has remained on display there.
Gianni Papi, an art historian and curator specializing in Caravaggio, said limited access did not translate into serious doubts about authorship. “Nobody ever questioned its provenance,” he told The Art Newspaper. “We have always been extremely convinced of Caravaggio’s signature: the photos left no doubt [about who the artist was].”
Papi also argued that the price, while substantial, sits within the logic of the top end of the market for the artist. “Caravaggio is the most iconic and famous painter in the world. It is a lot of money but also affordable. It could have been worth much more,” he said.
At Palazzo Barberini, the portrait will be positioned within a concentrated context of Caravaggio’s Roman output. The museum already displays major works by the artist, including “Judith Beheading Holofernes” (1599–1602). The acquisition also deepens the historical resonance of the site: Barberini’s patronage extended to landmark commissions such as the monumental gilt-bronze Baldacchino in St. Peter’s Basilica and Caravaggio’s “Sacrifice of Isaac” (c. 1603).
For scholars, the shift from private ownership to a permanent public collection is expected to change the terms of research. Maria Critsina Terzaghi, a Caravaggio specialist at Roma Tre University, described the purchase as a gain for academic study, noting that access had long been restricted. “Nobody but a few experts had been allowed to see the painting, so future generations had to base their understanding on what Longhi said,” she told The Art Newspaper.
Terzaghi added that close viewing could yield fresh insights into Caravaggio’s working methods, from brushwork to perspective. The painting is also slated for restoration. “It is in good condition but it hasn’t been touched since the 1960s,” she said.
In its announcement, the ministry characterized the portrait as part of a small core of works securely attributed to Caravaggio, putting the number at 65, including three portraits. Papi noted, however, that the count varies among specialists, with some scholars accepting as many as 80 works.
The ministry did not identify the painting’s former owners, who also remained unnamed in the catalogue for the Palazzo Barberini Caravaggio exhibition. With the acquisition complete, the portrait’s future is no longer tied to private discretion or market timing, but to the slower, more exacting rhythms of conservation, study, and sustained public display.
