Caravaggio - The unveiled portrait

The National Gallery of Ancient Art in Palazzo Barberini hosts the monographic exhibition Caravaggio - The unveiled portrait curated by Thomas Clement Salomon and Paola Nicita: in the Landscape Hall of the Palace the Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini is exhibited, a painting attributed to Caravaggio coming from a private collection and never previously shown to the public. This is a historical loan of great value which represents a unique opportunity for the public and sector experts to admire a work never exhibited before, which continues to be part of the private collection to which it has belonged for decades.

The work, presented to the public for the first time by the great art critic Roberto Longhi in the article The true “Maffeo Barberini” by Caravaggio, published in 1963 in the magazine Paragone, was recognized by the scholar as one of the cornerstones of portraiture production by Caravaggio. According to Longhi the painting, which reappeared in Rome without documentation, had been preserved for centuries in the collection of the Barberini family before ending up in a private collection, probably during the dispersion of the estate in the 1930s. The attribution proposed by Longhi was unanimously shared by illustrious scholars such as Federico Zeri, Mia Cinotti and others, who underlined the extraordinary technical and stylistic quality of the painting, which makes it one of the rare examples of Caravaggio's portraiture.

The painting is an excellent example of Caravaggio's naturalism. In fact, in the painting, Maffeo Barberini - future Pope Urban VIII - appears sitting on a tilted armchair, in a bare environment. The light, coming from below, hits the figure, while the monsignor, portrayed as still young, wears a hat and a green cassock over a white pleated robe. His posture is dynamic, almost in movement: his left arm rests on the armrest and holds a folded letter, while his right hand reaches out towards the surrounding space.

It is an image of power that reveals the decisive character and ambition of the one portrayed, but without any emphasis; the scene, naked and devoid of decorative elements, focuses on the personality of the subject, amplified by the play of light and shadow typical of Merisi. In this work, the artist does not limit himself to representing a high-ranking ecclesiastic: he transforms him into a protagonist of the scene, endowed with an internal energy that breaks the staticity typical of the genre. Furthermore, the work fills an important gap in Merisi's production, where portraits have often been lost.

Photo: official poster of the exhibition