Never-before-exhibited portrait by Caravaggio to go on public display

Staff | The History Blog | 23rd November 2024

A Caravaggio portrait, locked away in a secretive collection and unseen for decades, has gone on show in Florence. Completed early in Caravaggio’s career, it features an equally youngish Barberini when he was a rising star in the Vatican. Dramatic lighting and the subject’s expressive hand gestures give the work a “dynamic naturalism” unusual for that time. By the way, Barberini later became pope, patronised the arts, practised nepotism on a “vast” scale and beat up on Galileo. Background and images are here.