Caravaggio calling for summer 2025 visitors to Rome, at churches and in major exhibition
Much of Caravaggio’s art has religious themes. As well as his paintings in Rome’s churches, a Roman museum is hosting a major exhibition
The Roman basilica of the Augustinians – Pope Leo’s religious order – preserves an iconic painting of the Virgin Mary by Caravaggio, the blockbuster artist who revolutionised the use of light and dark in Western art.
Meanwhile, a new exhibition of works by the Baroque painter, “Caravaggio 2025”, is on view at the Palazzo Barberini in Rome until July 6, allowing for an updated look at his connection with spirituality.
From the Pilgrims’ Madonna at the Basilica of St Augustine to the Martyrdom of St Ursula that closes the “Caravaggio 2025” exhibition, art historians and clergy are highlighting the connections between religious belief and Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro technique.
“It’s the light that directs us towards what for him are the key points of the story,” exhibition curator Francesca Cappelletti said about the artist’s spotlight on the main characters that emerge from encroaching darkness. “Our life experience makes sense only if invested by a spiritual light.”
In the Augustinian Madonna, dating from the early 1600s, what hits the viewer at eye level are the dirty soles of a ragged pilgrim couple’s feet as they kneel by the apparition of the Virgin Mary. She leans casually against a door frame as she holds a toddler-size Jesus.