From May 28 to June 21, 2026, the Chapter House of the Senate Library, inside the Palazzo della Minerva in Rome, will temporarily host the Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini, a painting by Caravaggio acquired by the Italian state last March.
The work will be on view with free access Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., while on Saturdays, Sundays and on the June 2 holiday the opening will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. This is the first opportunity for the public to admire the painting after its acquisition by the state, before its final transfer to the National Galleries of Ancient Art in Rome, at Palazzo Barberini.
The occasion will also see the presentation nrlla Sala Capitolare, for the first time, of a valuable selection of documents from the State Archives of Rome: three judicial registers related to Caravaggio’s personal affair. Prominent among them is the interrogation record of May 4, 1598, drawn up in the Tor di Nona prison, where the painter was detained after being arrested the previous night between Piazza Madama and Piazza Navona. In the document, Caravaggio states that he was stopped because he was carrying a sword, but specified that he had a regular license as a painter in the service of Cardinal Del Monte, with whom he lived and from whom he received a salary.
The official opening is scheduled for Wednesday, May 27 at 5:30 p.m. in the presence of Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli and Senate President Ignazio La Russa.
“This acquisition is part of a precise strategy: intercepting works of exceptional importance before they are absorbed by the circuits of international private collecting and returning them to full public availability,” said Minister Alessandro Giuli. “It also happened with Ecce Homo: two different operations, but united by the same vision. That of a state that invests in culture as a common good, for the benefit of citizens and future generations, and that considers our artistic wealth not just a legacy of the past, but a living instrument of identity, knowledge and cohesion.”
“Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio,” says President La Russa, “was at Palazzo Madama and Palazzo Giustiniani long before these ancient mansions became the seat of the Senate. The choice to exhibit at the upper chamber one of his important works is therefore an albeit temporary homecoming. The young painter lived with Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, who had rented Palazzo Madama from Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici, his patron, and lived there for forty years, from 1589 until his death in 1626.” “It is a fact dense with meaning,” concluded President La Russa, “that the exhibition of such an important work, newly acquired to the heritage of the State, takes place in the spaces of the Senate of the Republic. We offer Italians and all lovers of beauty a unique opportunity to encounter a masterpiece that testifies to the greatness of our artistic history and the value of its protection.”
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| Caravaggio's Portrait of Maffeo Barberini on display for about a month at the Senate |
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