{"id":367192,"date":"2026-03-31T07:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/367192\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T07:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:53:08","slug":"italy-buys-devotional-early-renaissance-painting-for-e12-million-under-art-patrimony-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/367192\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy buys devotional early Renaissance painting for \u20ac12 million under art patrimony policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By&nbspTokunbo Salako<\/a>&nbspwith&nbspAP <\/p>\n

\n Published on
\n 31\/03\/2026 – 8:51 GMT+2\n <\/p>\n

Italy has moved again to protect and preserve ownership of a work deemed of national treasure by acquiring a Renaissance period artwork for \u20ac12.6 million. <\/p>\n

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The government has spent the money on a devotional painting by Antonello da Messina that was set for auction at Sotheby’s in New York. <\/p>\n

\u201cEcce Uomo\u201d depicts Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head and a rope around his neck in the moment when Pontius Pilate hands him over to the angry crowd to take him to be crucified.<\/p>\n

It is a devotional painting on a wooden panel measuring 20.3 cm by 14.9. On one side is the \u201cEcce Homo\u201d and on the other St. Jerome the Penitent.<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli said Italy intervened and managed to negotiate for the work \u201cstarting at a convenient price.\u201d<\/p>\n

The artwork was carried by its owner in a leather bag for years and pulled out to be used in prayer. The face of Saint Jerome has been worn away by the owner\u2019s repeated devotional kissing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSt. Jerome has been completely rubbed off,\u201d noted Federica Zalabra, director of the National Museum of Abruzzo, the first museum that will display the painting, saying one of the early owners \u201cwould kiss it” and “having direct contact with this work of art in that way, by kissing it and touching it, has caused damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The panel dates from around 1470.<\/p>\n

The acquisition comes a little over two weeks after Italy bought a rare portrait by baroque painter Caravaggio for \u20ac30 million euros<\/a>, one of the largest state investments ever for a single artwork.<\/p>\n

The painting depicts Maffeo Barberini, a nobleman who later became Pope Urban VIII.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to say the Ministry of Culture is putting a lot of effort into expanding the nation\u2019s art patrimony,\u201d said Massimo Osanna, the director general of Italy\u2019s museums.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne might ask why we buy, because what we buy are certainly unique pieces, such as Antonello or Caravaggio\u2019s Maffeo Barberini, which are returning home,\u201d Osanna added.<\/p>\n

The artwork will initially be displayed in the National Museum of Abruzzo in L\u2019Aquila before being moved to other locations in Italy to give as many Italians as possible the chance to see it in person.<\/p>\n

Giuli said people should expect some other important acquisitions and international operations in the near future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want people to understand how important it is for us to bring works of great artistic and public significance back to Italy .\u201d<\/p>\n

Video editor \u2022 Yolaine De Kerchove Dexaerde<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By&nbspTokunbo Salako&nbspwith&nbspAP Published on 31\/03\/2026 – 8:51 GMT+2 Italy has moved again to protect and preserve ownership of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9112,146,85,46,4608,7319,176919],"class_list":{"0":"post-367192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-cultural-heritage","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-painting","13":"tag-religion","14":"tag-renaissance-period"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}