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The gasp from the restoration team could be heard all the way to Piazza del Popolo. When conservators at the Borghese Gallery began cleaning what was thought to be a routine 17th-century copy of Caravaggio's "David with the Head of Goliath," they uncovered brushwork so violently beautiful it could only come from the master's own hand. After two years of painstaking analysis using particle accelerators and AI, the truth was undeniable - Rome had gained a new Caravaggio.
The 2025 exhibition reunites the rediscovered work with its twin - the Borghese's original "David" - for the first time since they hung together in Cardinal Scipione's private chambers. Seeing them side by side reveals Caravaggio's genius:
• The "new" David's face shows traces of the artist's own features (likely painted using a mirror)
• Goliath's severed head contains microscopic drops of the rabbit glue Caravaggio famously mixed with his paints
• Infrared imaging reveals a pentimento showing the young artist originally painted himself as both David AND Goliath
Gallery director Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli tells us, "This changes everything we know about Caravaggio's final years. That dark patch in the corner? It's not dirt - it's his fingerprint in lampblack."
Art Pilgrimage in Comfort
View the Caravaggios without jostling crowds through PrestigeFly's (www.prestigefly.com) exclusive dawn tours. Our "Baroque Brilliance" package includes business class on Delta's Detroit-Rome route and a private dinner in the Borghese's secret garden pavilion.
