A Lost Caravaggio Found Again, and the Paintings Around It
Italian newspaper la Repubblica has published a first-person account of how a lost painting by Caravaggio came back to light. The piece, written by Maria Cristina Terzaghi and published on 8 November 2026, carries the headline "Così ho ritrovato il dipinto perduto di Caravaggio", which means "This is how I rediscovered Caravaggio's lost painting."
Caravaggio, the Italian painter who lived from 1571 to 1610, is famous for dark backgrounds and figures lit by a single strong beam. Artnet News has reported that around 80 of his works are believed to survive. Each new discovery, or each sale, adds to a small and closely watched group.
One of the best-known recent cases is the Ecce Homo, a painting of Jesus shown before a crowd, which Caravaggio made around 1605 to 1609. The Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid presented an exhibition called The Lost Caravaggio: the Ecce Homo Unveiled. The Prado says the work is believed to have once belonged to the private collection of Philip IV of Spain, a 17th-century king. In 2024 the Prado also confirmed that a painting due to be sold at auction in Madrid in 2021 was by Caravaggio, the Associated Press reported. The Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples ran a companion show, Capodimonte doppio Caravaggio, from 24 July to 2 November 2025.
Money has also followed the artist. Italy bought a rare Caravaggio portrait of the young Urban VIII, the future pope, for €30 million (US$32.7 million), Reuters reported in March 2026. The deal came after a year of talks. The portrait, painted around 1598, is now meant for the Palazzo Barberini, a museum palace in Rome.
Some discoveries come from unexpected places. In 2016, the owners of a house near Toulouse in southern France found a painting in their attic while repairing a leaky roof. Experts said it was a long-lost Caravaggio, and Reuters reported that the work dates from 1607. In 2019, Reuters reported that the painting was estimated at up to €150 million (US$170 million). An estimate is the price range an auction house expects a work to reach. The same year, Artnet News reported that a second, long-lost version of Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes might be in private hands in France.
Not every claim has been settled. In June 2025, Artnet News reported that an Italian scholar said he had found the earliest known Caravaggio painting. Separately, the New Criterion, a US cultural magazine, has reported newly found documents suggesting that some of Caravaggio's patrons, the people who paid for his work, ordered two paintings of the same composition.
For anyone who stands in front of these works, the practical questions are simple. Which museum holds the painting, who can see it, and what it cost to bring it home. Terzaghi's account adds one more chapter to that story.
