Why it matters
Caravaggio painted Maffeo Barberini, a rising 30-year-old prelate, poet and patron, who in 1623 would become Pope Urban VIII. Long hidden in a private collection, it was bought by the Italian state in 2026 for €30 million.
Did you know?
- It was painted around 1598.
- Roberto Longhi first catalogued it in 1963.
- Barberini later commissioned The Sacrifice of Isaac from Caravaggio.
- It is now in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome.
Based on the Wikipedia article Portrait of Maffeo Barberini (CC BY-SA 4.0).
