The Palazzo Barberini, in Rome, home of the Gallerie Nazionali d'Arte Antica, holds two works by Caravaggio that rarely leave its permanent collection: Judith Beheading Holofernes and Narcissus.
Judith, an almost sacred possession for her owners
Judite Decapitando Holofernes first belonged to the banker Ottavio Costa, who valued her so much that he kept her covered by a silk curtain and determined in his will that it never be sold or removed from the family collection. It later passed into the hands of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, and since then it has never left the palace. It is the painting in which Caravaggio, contrary to tradition, shows the exact moment of decapitation, the blade cutting the neck and the blood gushing out, neither before nor after the act.
Narcissus, an inward-looking myth
Narcissus portrays the young hunter from Greek mythology who falls in love with his own reflection in the dark waters of a lake, his lips parted in a sigh of unrequited love. It is one of Caravaggio's most intimate compositions, almost an inverted mirror of the self-portrait he would make years later in David with the Head of Goliath.
A palace, two faces of the same painter
Seeing Judith and Narcissus side by side is seeing two opposing sides of Caravaggio: the necessary violence of those who act to save others, and the silent trap of those who drown in their own image.
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Which works by Caravaggio are in Palazzo Barberini?
Judith Beheading Holofernes and Narcissus, both part of the Gallerie Nazionali d'Arte Antica, based in the Palazzo Barberini, in Rome.
Since when has Judite and Holofernes been at Palazzo Barberini?
The painting first belonged to the banker Ottavio Costa and then to Cardinal Antonio Barberini, and since its acquisition by the Barberini family it has never left the palace.
What does Caravaggio's painting Narcissus represent?
It represents the Greek myth of the young hunter who falls in love with his own reflection in the waters of a lake, one of the most intimate themes in Caravaggio's repertoire.
Continue to the Caravaggio cluster: Who was Caravaggio? · Judith and Holofernes, by Caravaggio · Caravaggio and the Bible
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