The exhibition is conceived as a research focus in which the very choice of display automatically opens a dialogue between the work of two absolute masters of the Baroque: in fact, the comparison between Velázquez‘s work and Caravaggio’s paintings in the room lends itself to readings that reveal unprecedented perspectives of criticism and insight, placing the exhibition in that strand dedicated to the gaze of foreign artists on the Eternal City to which the museum has long devoted a substantial part of its research.

Velázquez was an international artist, visiting Rome twice in his lifetime, and like Rubens, whom he met in Madrid in 1629, he had a privileged relationship with Rome and Italy, which in fact places him in that ranks of foreign artists who drew teaching and inspiration from the city and its Masters.

The painting of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) was revolutionary for the artistic fortunes of the entire seventeenth century. From the very first canvases unveiled to the public in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome in 1600, the “noise” (as Baglione wrote) around his work was striking, prompting numerous artists to imitate his style and copy his paintings. Hence was born the phenomenon of Caravaggism, which within a few years became European in scope, and whose highest achievements often flourished far from Italy, thanks to Flemish, Dutch, French and Spanish painters.