Caravaggio painting to join Palazzo Barberini collection in Rome.The Italian state has purchased a rare portrait by Italian Baroque genius Caravaggio for €30 million, Italy's culture minister Alessandro Giuli announced on Tuesday.The work portrays Monsignor Maffeo Barberini, the future Pope Urban VIII who ruled the Catholic Church and the Papal States from 1623 until his death in 1644. The painting, which dates to the turn of the 17th century, went on public display for the first time in November 2024 as part of an exhibition at Rome's Palazzo Barberini. The deed of purchase for the Caravaggio portrait was signed on Tuesday at Italy's culture ministry in the presence of Minister Giuli alongside the director general of Italy's state museums, Massimo Osanna, and the director of the National Galleries of Ancient Art in Rome, Thomas Clement Salomon. In a statement, Giuli said the "extraordinary masterpiece by Caravaggio" had been aquired by the state after "more than a year of negotiations". Giuli said that the acquisition, along with that of Antonello da Messina's Ecce Homo last month, is part of a broader, ongoing project to strengthen Italy's national cultural heritage that the culture ministry "will continue to pursue in the coming months". Caravaggio's portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini The painting, which depicts the cleric and patron of the arts in his early 30s, is believed to have been in the collection of the noble Barberini family for centuries before passing into private hands in the mid 1930s, around the time the estate was dispersed. The painting portrays a seated Barberini wearing a biretta and cassock, clutching a folded letter in one hand and pointing with the other, as he glances to his right. The work makes strong use of chiaroscuro, a technique employing dramatic use of light and shadow, for which Caravaggio is famous. Where to see Caravaggio paintings in Rome In 1963 the renowned art critic Roberto Longhi authenticated the painting as the work of Caravaggio who only completed a handful of portaits before his death, aged just 38, in 1610. Until it went on show in Rome in late 2024, the painting had reportedly only been seen by five or six of experts, behind closed doors. Where will the newly aquired Caravaggio be displayed? The work will join the permanent collection of Palazzo Barberini, part of the National Galleries of Ancient Art in Rome, which staged a blockbuster Caravaggio show last year. Palazzo Barberini is home to three other other works by Caravaggio: St Francis in Meditation (1606-1607), Narcissus (1597-1599), and Judith Beheading Holofernes (1598-1599). Galleria Corsini, which together with Palazzo Barberini houses Italy's national gallery of ancient art, also has a Caravaggio work: John the Baptist (c. 1604).

The Italian state has purchased a rare portrait by Italian Baroque genius Caravaggio for €30 million, Italy's culture minister Alessandro Giuli announced on Tuesday. The work portrays Monsignor , the future  who ruled the Catholic Church and the Papal States from 1623 until his death in 1644. The painting, which dates to the turn of the 17th century, went on  in November 2024 as part of an exhibition at Rome's Palazzo Barberini. The deed of purchase for the Caravaggio portrait was signed on Tuesday at Italy's culture ministry in the presence of Minister Giuli alongside the director general of Italy's state museums, Massimo Osanna, and the director of the National Galleries of Ancient Art in Rome, Thomas Clement Salomon. In , Giuli said the "extraordinary masterpiece by Caravaggio" had been aquired by the state after "more than a year of negotiations". Giuli said that the acquisition, along with that of  last month, is part of a broader, ongoing project to strengthen Italy's national cultural heritage that the culture ministry "will continue to pursue in the coming months". The painting, which depicts the cleric and patron of the arts in his early 30s, is believed to have been in the collection of the noble Barberini family for centuries before passing into private hands in the mid 1930s, around the time the estate was dispersed. The painting portrays a seated Barberini wearing a biretta and cassock, clutching a folded letter in one hand and pointing with the other, as he glances to his right. The work makes strong use of chiaroscuro, a technique employing dramatic use of light and shadow, for which Caravaggio is famous.

• Where to see Caravaggio paintings in Rome

In 1963 the renowned art critic  authenticated the painting as the work of Caravaggio who only completed a handful of portaits before his death, aged just 38, in 1610. Until it went on show in Rome in late 2024, the painting had reportedly only been seen by five or six of experts, behind closed doors. The work will join the permanent collection of Palazzo Barberini, part of the National Galleries of Ancient Art in Rome, which staged a last year. Palazzo Barberini is home to three other other works by Caravaggio: St Francis in Meditation (1606-1607), Narcissus (1597-1599), and Judith Beheading Holofernes (1598-1599). Galleria Corsini, which together with Palazzo Barberini houses Italy's national gallery of ancient art, also has a Caravaggio work: John the Baptist (c. 1604).