The National Galleries of Ancient Art in Rome present “Caravaggio 2025”, an exhibition curated by Francesca Cappelletti, Maria Teresa Terzaghi, Thomas Clement Salomon, which tells the innovative force of this extraordinary artist in the artistic, religious and social panorama of his time, bringing back, in a place symbolic of the connection between the painter and his patrons, masterpieces rediscovered and exhibited for the first time in Italy, alongside works belonging to private collections rarely visible and others that have entered the collective imagination, true milestones in the history of art. On display, among others, also the Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, recently unveiled to the public, and the Ecce Homo, rediscovered in Madrid in 2021, which represents a return to Italy after four centuries.
Until July 6th, Palazzo Barberini will be hosting this extraordinary exhibition, promoted by the National Galleries of Ancient Art, in collaboration with the Galleria Borghese, with the support of the Directorate General of Museums of the Ministry of Culture and with the support of the main partner Intesa Sanpaolo.
Caravaggio 2025 represents one of the most ambitious projects ever dedicated to the painting of Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio (1571-1610), an exhibition capable of proposing a new and in-depth reflection on the artistic and cultural revolution brought about by the Lombard master, exploring, in an unprecedented context in terms of breadth and extraordinariness, the innovation that he introduced into the artistic, religious and social panorama of his time.
Among the works on display, a special place is certainly occupied by the Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, published by Roberto Longhi in 1963 and never exhibited to the public until a few months ago, by the Ecce Homo, recently rediscovered in 2021, which returns to Italy after four centuries, and by the first version of the Conversion of Saul from the Cerasi Chapel, difficult to access because it is kept in a private home.
Alongside paintings such as Saint Francis in Meditation, Saint John the Baptist, Judith and Holofernes and Narcissus, which are part of the permanent collection of the National Galleries of Ancient Art, we find some masterpieces that are returning home such as The Cardsharps, The Musicians, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, purchased by Antonio Barberini in 1628 from the collection of Cardinal del Monte.
The itinerary is divided into four sections and guides the public to the discovery of Merisi's entire artistic career, covering a chronological span of approximately fifteen years, from his arrival in Rome around 1595 to his death in Porto Ercole in 1610.
In the first part, dedicated to his Roman debut, the exhibition deals with the years of his arrival in Rome, probably in 1595, and his first steps in the city, which were anything but simple.
Although he was already a trained painter, having grown up in the Milanese workshop of Simone Peterzano, a student of Titian, biographers agree that Caravaggio was initially forced to live by his wits, creating paintings for little money. Most likely, starting in the summer of the same year, he also passed through the workshop of the well-known and admired painter Giuseppe Cesari, known as Cavalier d'Arpino, who employed him to paint flowers and fruit. Although the relationship between the two ended abruptly within eight months, Naturalia's production left important and profound traces in Caravaggio's early production, as is evident in the beautiful still lifes of Mondafrutto and Bacchus Sick, exhibited together for the first time.
Some fortunate encounters, with the painter Prospero Orsi, expert in Grotesques, and with Costantino Spada, second-hand dealer and dealer of his first paintings, allowed Caravaggio to come into contact, around the summer of 1597, with the most prestigious patron, the refined and eclectic cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, also a lover of music and singing, to whom belonged The Musicians, the Fortune Teller and the Cardsharps, masterpieces of that “comic painting” that characterizes Caravaggio's youthful phase, characterized by a use of light still far from the powerful chiaroscuro of his maturity. At the same time, Caravaggio began a relationship with the banker Ottavio Costa, owner of the beautiful Saint Francis in Ecstasy, the first example of a sacred work executed by the artist in Rome.
Sealing Caravaggio's success in the city, in 1600, a year after the first public commission for the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, was the assignment to paint two panels for the Cerasi chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo: The Crucifixion of Saint Peter and the Conversion of Saul, of which the first draft is now exceptionally exhibited in Palazzo Barberini, which differs from the final version in the support used, a large cypress wood panel (237x189 cm) much more valuable than the canvas.
In the section entitled “Ingagliardire gli oscuri” the exhibition introduces the rare portrait production of Caravaggio which, as archival sources and prints demonstrate, must have been very rich and esteemed, but of which very few testimonies have reached us.
The exhibition offers the unique opportunity to see two versions of the portrait of Maffeo Barberini side by side for the first time, both from private collections. As Giulio Mancini attests, the painter portrayed Maffeo Barberini on more than one occasion. Here we have the well-known “Corsini” version, attributed to Caravaggio by Lionello Venturi (1912), Gianni Papi and Keith Christiansen in 2010, exhibited alongside the one recently presented to the public more than sixty years after the attribution and rediscovered by Roberto Longhi (1963), unanimously shared by all scholars. In this last painting, the revolutionary naturalism of Caravaggio's painting is evident, in which the portrait seems to have played a very important role, despite being considered a minor genre.
The artist did not limit himself to portraying noble prelates or illustrious figures, but also used, for religious paintings, people belonging to the humblest social classes, eternalizing their memory forever. This is the case of the beautiful model who lends her image to Martha and Mary Magdalene, Judith beheading Holofernes and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, perhaps identifiable with the famous courtesan Fillide Melandroni.
Among these paintings, Saint Catherine plays a particularly important role because, according to Bellori, the artist's biographer, it is from this painting that the way of "enhancing the dark ones" begins, which would characterise all his subsequent production, reaching full maturity in the imposing canvases for the Contarelli chapel, still visible in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi.
The exhibition section “The sacred drama between Rome and Naples” ideally starts from the first public commission obtained by Caravaggio in 1599, thanks to the intermediation of Cardinal del Monte: the canvases of the Contarelli chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi. The cycle dedicated to Saint Matthew represented a real challenge for Merisi, who for the first time confronted himself with paintings of historical subjects, and also constituted a watershed in his production, because from that moment he would dedicate himself almost exclusively to sacred themes, giving rise to the tragic style characteristic of his production. This section displays some of the most emblematic religious works of the mature Merisi at the height of his success, who counted among his patrons prominent figures such as Ciriaco Mattei and Ottavio Costa, for whom he created respectively “The capture of Christ” and “Saint John the Baptist” from the collection of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, the latter accompanied by the painting with the same subject preserved in the National Galleries of Ancient Art.
In the late spring of 1606, however, the painter's life took a dramatic turn when, during a game of tennis, he killed Ranuccio Tomassoni. Merisi was forced to flee from a death sentence, taking refuge first in the Colonna fiefdoms in Lazio, where he painted "The Supper at Emmaus" and Saint Francis in Meditation. According to some scholars, the David and Goliath in the Borghese Gallery may date back to those years, a painting in which, by depicting himself in the role of Goliath, the artist highlights his need for atonement.
A few months later the painter was in Naples, a city where he was highly appreciated and painted wonderful works such as the Ecce Homo, recently discovered in Spain, and one of his masterpieces, the Flagellation, created for the chapel of San Domenico Maggiore.
The final phase of the artist's life is addressed in the last part of the exhibition, entitled "Endgame". The artist, driven by the constant desire to return to Rome, left Naples and sailed for Malta in the summer of 1607, hoping to join the Order of the Knights of Jerusalem, thus trying to obtain the pardon of Pope Paul V Borghese. Thanks to works such as the Portrait of a Knight of Malta, Merisi obtained the knighthood, but was then imprisoned following a brawl with another member of the Order. Forced to flee again, he headed first to Sicily, to Syracuse and Messina, then back to Naples, where he created his last works, including the Saint John the Baptist in the Borghese Gallery and the Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, painted for Marcantonio Doria a few days before his tragic journey, when, in 1610, he sailed for Rome, after receiving the news of the papal pardon. He took with him on a felucca some paintings to give to his nephew Cardinal Scipione Borghese, including the Saint John the Baptist. Unfortunately, Caravaggio was unable to fulfill his dream of returning and, although his last days are shrouded in mystery, it is likely that, once landed in Palo, he was held for some checks or arrested. Once released, he died on the way to Porto Ercole at only 39 years old.
The twenty-fifth work of the exhibition is represented by Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, the only mural painting executed by Caravaggio in 1597 approximately inside the Casino dell'Aurora, in Villa Ludovisi at Porta Pinciana, commissioned by Cardinal del Monte, for the ceiling of the chamber where he dabbled in alchemy. The work depicts, in fact, an allegory of the alchemical triad of Paracelsus, with Jupiter personifying sulphur and air, Neptune mercury and water, and Pluto salt and earth.
