[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2188348955.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tItaly has purchased a rare Caravaggio portrait for \u20ac30 million ($34.7 million), one of the largest sums ever paid by the state for a work of art, according to the country\u2019s culture ministry.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe painting, depicting the cleric Monsignor Maffeo Barberini\u2014who would later ascend as Pope Urban VIII\u2014was described as being of \u201cexceptional importance,\u201d Alessandro Giuli, Italy\u2019s culture minister, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe portrait had been kept in a private collection in Florence and was first shown publicly in 2004 in Rome. Following its purchase by the Italian state, it was transferred to the permanent collection of the Palazzo Barberini, the historic residence of the Barberini family, where it will be exhibited alongside other works by Caravaggio.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe master Baroque artist painted Barberini around 1598. The composition anticipates his eventual rise to power: draped in a resplendent green cleric\u2019s cloak, his right hand is outstretched, casually issuing orders to an unseen figure outside the frame. He was elected pope in 1623 and served until he died in 1644, leaving a legacy of rich art patronage.<\/p>\n
\n\tCulture Minister Alessandro Giuli said that the purchase was part of a broader effort to prevent artworks of national importance from disappearing into private collections. The ministry of culture, he continued, will \u201ccontinue to pursue\u201d similar acquisitions in the coming months, \u201cwith the aim of making some art history masterpieces accessible to scholars and enthusiasts that would otherwise be destined for the private market\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI would like to thank all the institutions, officials, and technicians who have worked with great skill and dedication to achieve such an important result,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2188348955.jpg?w=1024″] Italy has purchased a rare Caravaggio portrait for \u20ac30 million ($34.7 million), one of the largest sums ever paid by the state for a work of art, according to the country\u2019s culture ministry. The painting, depicting the cleric Monsignor Maffeo Barberini\u2014who would later ascend as Pope Urban VIII\u2014was described as being of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1823058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1823058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1823058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1823058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1823058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}