Naples, Capodimonte welcomes Rubens, Baglione and Carracci: great masters on display

In Naples, the National Museum of Capodimonte is preparing to welcome three masterpieces of seventeenth-century painting, the result of loans that will enrich the exhibition itinerary of the Neapolitan museum, and in particular of the collaboration between the Neapolitan institute and the Gallerie Nazionali d’Arte Antica on the occasion of the exhibition on Caravaggio at Palazzo Barberini.

From March 11, Pieter Paul Rubens ’ (Siegen, June 28, 1577 - Antwerp, May 30, 1640) St. Sebastian Cured by Angels (1601-1602), from the Corsini Gallery in Rome, will be the first major guest. The Flemish master’s work will dialogue with striking depictions of the saint’s martyrdom already in the Capodimonte collection, including paintings by Passigliano, Bartolomeo Schedoni, Andrea Vaccaro and Mattia Preti.

But Rubens will not be the only protagonist. Also arriving from Palazzo Barberini will beAmor sacro e Amor profano (1602) by Giovanni Baglione (Rome, c. 1573-Dec. 30, 1643), a painter and biographer known for his historic rivalry with Caravaggio. Baglione, often called the “anti-Caravaggio,” took Merisi to court on charges of defamation in seventeenth-century Rome. His painting, also of extraordinary expressive power, will offer visitors further food for thought on the artistic landscape of the time.

“The arrival of these two masterpieces,” emphasizes Capodimonte Director Eike Schmidt, "is part of a significant exchange with the National Galleries of Ancient Art. Coinciding with the Jubilee 2025 celebrations, Caravaggio’s ’The Flagellation,’ owned by the Fondo Edifici di Culto, as it is known on consignment to Capodimonte since 1972, will be on display at Palazzo Barberini in the Caravaggio 2025 exhibition from March 7 to July 6.This is a dutiful loan due to the importance of the event and the high scientific value of the initiative. and that brings the two Roman works on display here: it will be an opportunity for Capodimonte patrons, especially citizens who come to the museum regularly, to admire these paintings, rarely loaned, in a different context and, moreover, in Naples. It is a dialogue that will stimulate new reflections and comparisons, in the case of Rubens’ Saint Sebastian with a display from the iconographic point of view that is a true seventeenth-century compendium on the subject. I like to mention that Baglione’s masterpiece returns to Naples exactly 40 years after the epochal exhibition Caravaggio and His Time signed by Causa and Spinosa."

The collaboration between the National Galleries of Ancient Art and the Capodimonte Museum is not limited to exchanges of works: in fact, a reciprocal promotion is planned that will allow visitors to take advantage of discounts on admission tickets. Those who buy a ticket for Capodimonte will be able to access the Palazzo Barberini exhibition with a reduced ticket from 18 to 12 euros. Likewise, visitors to the major exhibition Caravaggio 2025 will be able to visit Capodimonte with a reduced ticket at 12 euros until July 30.

Finally, also coming, as mentioned, is a third work. After Rubens and Baglione, theAnnunciation (1585) by Ludovico Carracci (Bologna, 1555 - 1619), on loan from the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, will also arrive in March. The work, an expression of Emilian classicism, is part of a cycle of major loans that began last year with Gustave Courbet’s The Spring.

Naples, Capodimonte welcomes Rubens, Baglione and Carracci: great masters on display

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