Caravaggio 2025 at Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Rome
From March to July 6th, 2025, the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica present, in the majestic halls of Palazzo Barberini in Rome, Italy, the exhibition “Caravaggio 2025”, a monumental event dedicated to Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio. Curated by Francesca Cappelletti, Maria Cristina Terzaghi, and Thomas Clement Salomon, the project brings together 24 masterpieces—25 if we include the extraordinary mural “Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto” at the Casino Ludovisi — on loan from prestigious public and private collections, both national and international.
Organized on the occasion of the Jubilee Year 2025, the exhibition offers an unprecedented journey through iconic works and recent rediscoveries, reaffirming Caravaggio as one of the greatest innovators in the history of art.
LEFT: Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, David with the Head of Goliath, 1609–1610, oil on canvas, 125 x 101 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome, ph. M. Coen, © Galleria Borghese; RIGHT: Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, Saint John the Baptist, 1609–1610, oil on canvas, 152 x 125 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome, ph. M. Coen, © Galleria Borghese
Caravaggio: An Intense and Tragic Life – The Revolution of a Master Between Light, Shadow, and Humanity
Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, was born in Milan and baptized on September 30, 1571. Little is known about his youth, but documents indicate that in 1584, as a teenager, he was sent by his mother to study in the workshop of Simone Peterzano, a disciple of Titian. His presence is next recorded only in 1595, the year he arrived in Rome, facing a difficult beginning by selling low-cost paintings.
Caravaggio's talent quickly drew attention: he collaborated with Giuseppe Cesari, known as the Cavalier d'Arpino, and soon gained the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, marking the start of a meteoric rise in the Roman art scene. His commissions for the church of San Luigi dei Francesi and for the Cerasi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo sealed his fame.
However, in 1606, a dramatic event altered the course of his life: during a game of pallacorda, Caravaggio killed Ranuccio Tomassoni and was forced to flee Rome. He first sought refuge in the Colonna family's estates, then moved to Naples, Malta—where he was knighted—and Sicily. After a series of escapes and wanderings, he returned to Naples in 1609. In 1610, attempting to return to Rome after hearing rumors of a papal pardon, Caravaggio tragically died in Porto Ercole at the age of 39, without ever completing his final journey home.
LEFT: Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, Saint John the Baptist, 1609–1610, oil on canvas, 152 × 125 cm, Rome (Italy), Galleria Borghese, ph. M. Coen, © Galleria Borghese; RIGHT: Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, Self-Portrait as Bacchus (Young Sick Bacchus), around 1595, oil on canvas, 67 x 53 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome, ph. M. Coen, © Galleria Borghese
The Timeless Relevance of Caravaggio
Merely uttering the name Caravaggio evokes the power of art to interpret its time and transcend centuries without losing its impact. A central figure in European figurative culture, Caravaggio broke away from the inherited balances of the Renaissance and sowed the seeds of a new kind of painting—visceral, dramatic, and profoundly human. His influence resonates from masters like David and Picasso to the present day, reinforced by his historic public rediscovery at the 1951 exhibition in Milan, which cemented his status as a symbol of artistic and existential modernity.
Today, Caravaggio is more alive than ever, and Palazzo Barberini once again becomes the stage where his works—some directly linked to the Barberini family's collections—shine alongside exceptional loans, new attributions, and unprecedented juxtapositions.
LEFT: Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, 1594–1595 oil on canvas, 92.5 × 128.4 cm, Hartford (USA), Wadsworth Atheneum of Art, The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, Credits: Allen Phillips/Wadsworth Atheneum; RIGHT: Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, Ecce Homo, 1606–1609, oil on canvas, 116 × 86 cm, Madrid (Spain), Private Collection, Credits: Icon Trust
A Journey Through Discoveries and Unprecedented Dialogues
Among the highlights of the exhibition are the recently rediscovered “Ecce Homo” —returning to Italy after four centuries—and the “Portrait of Maffeo Barberini”, shown to the public for the first time. Iconic works such as “The Musicians” (Metropolitan Museum, New York), “The Cardsharps” (Kimbell Art Museum, Texas), and the “Saint Catherine of Alexandria” (Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid) also return to Rome, composing an emotional and unprecedented narrative.
The exhibition is organized into four thematic sections that trace the artistic and human evolution of Caravaggio, from his youth in Rome to his final years of exile:
- Debutto Romano: the artist’s early years in the Eternal City, decisive encounters, and the beginning of his fame.
- Ingagliardire gli oscuri: the revolution in portraiture and the triumph of dramatic naturalism.
- Il dramma sacro tra Roma e Napoli: the peak of his artistic and spiritual maturity.
- Finale di partita: the years of wandering exile and the last works, marked by urgency and raw emotion.
LEFT: Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, The Fortune Teller, Credits: The Fortune Teller_ inv. PC 131 – Rome, Musei Capitolini, Pinacoteca Capitolina - Photographic Archive of the Musei Capitolini, © Rome, Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali; RIGHT: Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, The Musicians, circa 1595, oil on canvas, 92.1 x 118.4 cm, Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence
An Unrepeatable Journey Through Caravaggio’s Revolutionary Art
The exhibition offers a true immersion into the revolutionary genius of the Lombard master. Each room reveals profound transformations in his style: from the exuberant colors of the first version of the Conversion of Saint Paul—an explosion of vibrant yellows, reds, and deep blues—to the restrained and somber drama of his final Neapolitan works, such as the Martyrdom of Saint Ursula.
With the rare public opening of the Casino dell’Aurora, where Caravaggio painted his only known mural, the exhibition provides a unique and comprehensive experience of the artist’s extraordinary journey.
 “Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto”, Caravaggio Fresco, Courtesy of Casino Boncompagni Ludovisi, Rome
Caravaggio: The Restless Human Spirit Captured Forever
"Caravaggio 2025" is a celebration of an artist who, through his raw realism, dramatic lighting, and profound emotional depth, was able to capture the human soul in all its contradictions. As Thomas Clement Salomon stated, "Caravaggio’s paintings still have the power to slow down time for those who contemplate them."
LEFT: Michelangelo Merisi (known as Caravaggio), The Taking of Christ, Photo credit: National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland, Photo © Fine Art Images/Bridgeman Images; RIGHT: Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi), The Cardsharps, circa 1595, Oil on canvas Unframed: 37 1/16 × 51 9/16 in. (94.2 × 130.9 cm), Framed: 50 3/16 × 63 7/8 × 3 5/8 in. (127.5 × 162.2 × 9.2 cm), Credit Line: Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
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