Page of Portrait of Maffeo Barberini by CARAVAGGIO in the Web Gallery of Art, a searchable image collection and database of European paintings and sculptures (1100-1850)

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Portrait of Maffeo Barberini

1599
Oil on canvas, 124 x 99 cm
Private collection, Florence

The still undeveloped features of this young cleric, who later became Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644) were portrayed as a much more distinguished figure by the skills of Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). Here, the face appears in chiaroscuro against a neutral background in such a way that a wall appears to be screening off the figure from the left. In order to give the figure more 'rilievo', or more three-dimensionality, the lit sections are painted against a dark, and the sections in shadow against a light, background.