The master of light, shadow and controversy, Caravaggio, returns to the spotlight this Jubilee Year in a major exhibition of his paintings at the Barberini Palace in Rome. 

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The Caravaggio 2025 Exhibition offers a rare opportunity to go and see the Baroque painter’s most celebrated pieces as well as the lesser-known ones. 

Maria Cristina Terzaghi is a leading Caravaggio scholar and professor at Roma Tre University. She has helped organize major exhibitions and is known for uncovering new details about the artist’s life and work. She explains: 

“‘Caravaggio 2025’ brings together 24 works by the artist, aiming to illustrate his life journey and artistic career—above all, with the ambition of showing paintings that are rarely, or even never, seen by the public.” 

Thomas Clément Salomon is a French director of the National Galleries of Ancient Art here in Rome. With a focus on Caravaggio and his circle, he focuses on bringing a new approach to studying the Baroque era. He notes: 

“It’s an extraordinary exhibition, also featuring two recently rediscovered works: the Ecce Homo, found in Madrid in 2021, and the Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, which we've recently shown here at the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica. It truly is a remarkable journey—and a once-in-a-lifetime chance. A project of this ambition, with so many Caravaggio masterpieces together, may not happen again for decades.” 

Francesca Cappelletti is an Italian art historian and director of the Galleria Borghese in Rome. A leading expert on Caravaggio, she helped rediscover The Taking of Christ and has done major work on Italian art collecting and Baroque painting. She highlights: 

“It’s a rare chance to get to know—and revisit—this great artist with fresh eyes, and with the insights of the latest research. We begin with his early years in Roman workshops, beautifully represented by Boy Peeling Fruit—one of his most beloved compositions at the time, as many versions were made. Here, we present the version from the British Royal Collection, displayed alongside Young Sick Bacchus from the Borghese Gallery, which entered Scipione Borghese’s collection in 1607, directly from the studio of the Cavalier d’Arpino.” 

The exhibition highlights Caravaggio’s lasting influence on the art world, showing his revolutionary use of light and realism. It serves as an important reminder of how his work continues to shape our understanding of art and the human experience today.  

Adapted by Jacob Stein

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