History has its own sophistication; while periods change and people overcome the brutalities of the past, intellects never go forgotten. Be it Marcus Aurelius or Vitruvius or the hundreds of artists who continue to amaze us through the power of their learnings and perspectives- history is an interplay of time and knowledge full of romance that separates us from the present struggles. Before I begin today’s story, I would like to clarify that by no means am I comparing the minds of these geniuses as they remain exposed to their accomplishments and guide the world for a better future together. Cutting right to it, Caravaggio, a master who lit so well in his artistry that he brought a revolution to the 16th century and the one following it and intently or not stacked the Baroque period as an achievement of humanity. This exact master’s geniuses will be put to public view after 15 long and awaiting years as the National Gallery of Ancient Art, and the Borghese Gallery curate an exhibition in the halls of Palazzo Barberini in Rome from March 7 to July 6, further celebrating the artist on the occasion of Jubilee 2025.
Maria Cristina Terzaghi, one of the curators of Caravaggio 2025 alongside Francesca Cappelletti and Thomas Clement Salomon, said to ANSA,
“The title was chosen not only for the connection with the Holy Year but also because the exhibition intends to take stock of the novelties that have emerged in recent years regarding the artist.”
The exhibition intends to display works that are hardly put to view before the public or are exhibited in Italy for the first time, following very rare loans. The number of Caravaggio paintings displayed on this occasion, with the help of the General Directorate of Museums-Mic and Palazzo Barberini, will be no less than twenty, even more as the last few loans are about to end.
The works that have come to the attention include the recently verified Ecce Homo, the masterpiece which truly shows the sufferings and life learnings of the artist; Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, the artwork that was recently presented to the public for the first time after its attribution to the artist at Palazzo Barberini; and other significant artworks of the artist’s life. The exhibition will proceed to narrate the life of Caravaggio through some of his most exceptional paintings.
What makes Caravaggio noteworthy is his rejection of idealized forms in art, while providing an individuality to his figures in an absolute dramatizing environment. Starting from the still lifes, the artist defined his paintings by portraying humans as if they are caught up in a moment. When Mahima wrote a post dedicated to the paintings of the artist, I was simply awe-struck by their stories and the artist’s intuitive creativity on the canvas.
Three of the paintings that are on loan at present- Sick Bacchus, David with the Head of Goliath, and Saint John the Baptist might come to this exhibition, further foretelling our beloved’s Caravaggio last days.
Some of the other loans are the Saint Catherine of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid and Marta and Maddalena from Detroit Institute of Art for which the artist used a similar model for Judith as in other paintings of the same subject. One of the important missions of this visit will be viewing these paintings with the three paintings of Judith that were commissioned by the banker Ottavio Costa – Judith and Holofernes from Palazzo Barberini, St. John the Baptist from the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City and St. Francis in Ecstasy from the Wadsworth Atheneum of Art in Hartford, which will remain in their respective places. Lastly, the painting, that took most of my attention among all Caravaggio’s paintings, Martyrdom of St. Ursula, Merisi’s last painting, will also form a part of this crucial exhibition of the artist.
The exhibition ‘Caravaggio 2025’ is one of the greatest collaborations of state museums that not only allows the viewer to see the master paintings in a single place but enthralls him with the opportunity to visit them in Rome, a place that Caravaggio wanted to live his last days off. I have written an article on this subject about how Caravaggio wanted to live in Rome after everything, but he never managed to live there and instead died in heart-wrecking circumstances. This event is as if the artist’s last wish to be in Rome through some of the most spectacular paintings.
Featured Image: The Calling of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio; Caravaggio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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