Holy Year: Caravaggio 2025 Exhibition at Palazzo Barberini

Source: FSSPX News

A press conference held at Palazzo Barberini on January 22, 2025 identified some of the paintings by Caravaggio that will be exhibited in the same palace from March 7 to July 6, 2025, on the occasion of the Jubilee year celebrations.

On the occasion of the Holy Year, the National Galleries of Ancient Art, in collaboration with the Borghese Gallery, with the support of the General Directorate of Museums of the Ministry of Culture and with the support of the main partner Intesa Sanpaolo, present Caravaggio 2025 at Palazzo Barberini. The exhibit is under the direction of Francesca Cappelletti, Maria Cristina Terzaghi, and Thomas Clement Salomon.

This is one of the most important and ambitious projects dedicated to Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio (1571-1610), with an exceptional number of autographed paintings.

By bringing together some of the most famous works, as well as others lesser known but equally significant, the exhibition aims to offer a new and in-depth reflection on the artistic and cultural revolution of the master, exploring for the first time in such a broad context the innovation that he introduced into the artistic, religious, and social panorama of his time.

Among the works on display are the Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, recently presented to the public more than On the occasion of the Holy Year, the National Galleries of Ancient Art, in collaboration with the Borghese Gallery, with the support of the General Directorate of Museums of the Ministry of Culture and with the support of the main partner Intesa Sanpaolo, present Caravaggio 2025 at Palazzo Barberini, under the direction of Francesca Cappelletti, Maria Cristina Terzaghi, and Thomas Clement Salomon.

This is one of the most important and ambitious projects dedicated to Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio (1571-1610), with an exceptional number of autographed paintings and a journey through little-known works and new discoveries in one of the symbolic places of the bond between the artist and his patrons.

By bringing together some of the most famous works, as well as others lesser known but equally significant, the exhibition aims to offer a new and in-depth reflection on the artistic and cultural revolution of the master, exploring for the first time in such a broad context the innovation that he introduced into the artistic, religious, and social panorama of his time.

Among the works on display are the Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, recently presented to the public more than sixty years after its rediscovery, for the first time surrounded by other paintings by Merisi, and the Ecce Homo, currently on display at the Prado Museum in Madrid, which will return to Italy for the first time in centuries.

Along with these are other exceptional loans such as the St. Catherine of Alexandria from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, a masterpiece from the Barberini collections that will return to the palace that housed it, and Martha and Mary Magdalene from the Detroit Institute of Arts, for which the artist used the same model as the Judith kept at the Barberini Palace, all exhibited side by side for the first time.

The exhibition will also be an opportunity to revisit together the three paintings commissioned by the banker Ottavio Costa, Judith Beheading Holofernes from the Palazzo Barberini, St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness  from the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City and St. Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy from the Wadsworth Atheneum of Art in Hartford.

We must also add works linked to the history of the Barberini collection, such as the Cardsharps from the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, which returns to the Roman palace where it was kept for a long time. The selection ends with an important loan granted by Intesa Sanpaolo: the Martyrdom of St. Ursula, Merisi's last painting, painted shortly before his death. 

Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio (1571-1610), was born on September 29, 1571 in Milan, and was baptized the following day in the Basilica of St. Stephen the Great. When the plague broke out in 1577, his family moved to the village of Caravaggio (Lombardy) where he spent his childhood. His father and uncle fell ill and died shortly after.

At the age of 13, Michelangelo was sent by his mother to the studio of Simone Peterzano (Venice, 1535 – Milan, 1599), a Mannerist painter and student of Titian Vecellio. Around 1592, probably shortly after his mother's death, the artist decided to leave Milan, his native city, to settle in Rome where he worked for Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte and other patrons.

His irritable and violent temperament forced him to leave Rome and move, on the run, to Naples, then to Malta and Sicily, and back to Naples. From there, he left with the hope of returning to Rome, but he fell ill and died on the beach of Porto Ercole.

The chapel of St. Matthew, in the church of Saint-Louis-des-Français, contains three beautiful paintings by Caravaggio: The Calling and Martyrdom of Saint Matthew, Saint Matthew, and theAngel.

Along with these are other exceptional loans such as the St. Catherine of Alexandria from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid (a masterpiece from the Barberini collections that will return to the palace that housed it) and Martha and Mary Magdalene from the Detroit Institute of Arts (for which the artist used the same model as the Judith kept at the Barberini Palace) are all exhibited side by side for the first time.

The exhibition will also be an opportunity to revisit together the three paintings commissioned by the banker Ottavio Costa, Judith Beheading Holofernes from the Palazzo Barberini, St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness  from the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City and St. Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy from the Wadsworth Atheneum of Art in Hartford.

We must also add works linked to the history of the Barberini collection, such as the Cardsharps from the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, which returns to the Roman palace where it was kept for a long time. The selection ends with an important loan granted by Intesa Sanpaolo: The Martyrdom of St. Ursula - Merisi's last painting, painted shortly before his death. 

Another Biographical Note

Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio (1571-1610), was born on September 29, 1571 in Milan, and was baptized the following day in the Basilica of St. Stephen the Great. When the plague broke out in 1577, his family moved to the village of Caravaggio (Lombardy) where he spent his childhood. His father and uncle fell ill and died shortly after.

At the age of 13, Michelangelo was sent by his mother to the studio of Simone Peterzano (Venice, 1535 – Milan, 1599), a Mannerist painter and student of Titian Vecellio. Around 1592, probably shortly after his mother's death, the artist decided to leave Milan, his native city, to settle in Rome where he worked for Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte and other patrons.

His irritable and violent temperament forced him to leave Rome and move, on the run, to Naples, then to Malta and Sicily, and back to Naples. From there, he left with the hope of returning to Rome, but he fell ill and died on the beach of Porto Ercole.

The chapel of St. Matthew, in the church of Saint-Louis-des-Français, contains three beautiful paintings by Caravaggio: The Calling and Martyrdom of Saint Matthew, Saint Matthew, and The Angel.