Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini

Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini, probably painted around 1598, depicts the future Pope Urban VIII at approximately thirty years of age, while pursuing his career within the Roman Curia. Caravaggio abandons the rigidity of conventional official portraiture and presents the sitter as if caught during a moment of action.

Barberini is seated and dressed as a cleric of the Apostolic Chamber. His body turns energetically while one hand holds a document and the other extends outward in a gesture suggesting conversation or command. This movement breaks the traditional stillness of portraiture and creates the impression of a living person thinking, speaking and acting.

In March 2026 the Italian State acquired the painting for the permanent collections of Palazzo Barberini. The extended hand makes the viewer an imagined participant in Barberini's unfinished conversation.