“This acquisition, together with the recent purchase of the Ecce Homo by Antonello da Messina, is part of a broader project to strengthen the national cultural heritage.”
The previous owners of the work, who were not specified, had allowed the portrait to be exhibited to the public for an exhibit on Caravaggio at Palazzo Barberini – the noble family’s historic home in central Rome – which ended in February 2025.
The museum’s director, Thomas Clement Salomon, told AFP at the exhibition’s opening in November 2024 that the fact it was being displayed was “exceptional”.
“It has never been lent to an exhibition, it has never been seen in a museum, so it is an absolute preview,” he said.
In the painting, a seated Barberini is clutching a letter in his left hand, with his right pointing forward, towards the viewer.
Around 65 paintings in the world have been “securely attributed” to Caravaggio, according to the ministry statement, while portraits are very rare, with only three “known and firmly accepted”.
-Agence France-Presse