Rome is to celebrate Caravaggio on
the occasion of this year's Roman Catholic Jubilee Holy Year
with the biggest ever show on the iconic artist at Palazzo
Barberini from March 7 to July 6.
Enriched by paintings that are rarely visible to the public or
exhibited in Italy for the first time and by loans of
exceptional importance, 'Caravaggio 2025' is an exhibition
produced by the National Galleries of Ancient Art in
collaboration with the Galleria Borghese.
Presented on Wednesday in Rome, 'Caravaggio 2025' will bring
together about twenty paintings by Michelangelo Merisi
(1571-1610) but perhaps more since "the last loans are being
closed", as the director of the National Galleries of Ancient
Art Thomas Clement Salomon explained.
Among the works on display will be the Portrait of Maffeo
Barberini, recently presented to the public, and the Ecce Homo,
currently exhibited at the Prado in Madrid.
The latter "is a work never seen before in Italy," explains
Maria Cristina Terzaghi, curator of the exhibition with
Francesca Cappelletti and Thomas Salomon, "even though it left
Naples at the behest of the vicereine, wife of the Count of
Castrillo, who when the plague broke out in the city decided to
return to Madrid taking the painting with her, which has never
returned since; it belongs to a private collector who lent it to
the Prado, which in turn generously lent it to us for this
exhibition".
The content of this exhibition "is pure Caravaggio" says
Cappelletti, director of the Galleria Borghese and co-curator of
the exhibition.
"The Galleria Borghese," she said, "is present with three
important loans, from the Sick Bacchus to David with the Head of
Goliath and then the Saint John the Baptist, paintings that
probably accompanied the artist even in his final escape".
Caravaggio, who was born in Milan, was compelled to flee Rome,
where he was accused of murder, in May 1606, and travel south
through Italy, reaching as far as the island of Malta.
His exile spanned slightly over four years, and concluded with
his demise from illness in July 1610 at the age of 38.
photo: David With The Head of Goliath, at the Prado
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