A portrait by baroque painter Caravaggio held in a private collection since it was discovered more than 60 years ago is being shown to the public for the first time in a museum in central Rome. Caravaggio, whose real name was Michelangelo Merisi, was a master of the 'chiaroscuro' technique of lighting to make his subjects seem to come alive. He died in 1610 in his late thirties, after a turbulent life. His portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini, who would go on to become 17th century Pope Urban VIII - a great patron of the arts who had sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini among his proteges - was attributed to him in 1963. It is one of just a handful of surviving Caravaggio portraits, since most have been lost or destroyed, and it is going on display from Nov. 23 until Feb 23, 2025, the museum said.
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