Mansion with painting Caravaggio sold for half a billion euros

Mansion with the painting of Caravaggio (1571-1610) and Frescoes Griefly (1591-1666) in the center of Rome, put on sale at the auction. As the newspaper La Repubblica writes, the initial price is scheduled at € 471 million and the state has the right to purchase.

The mansion was part of the once extensive villa of Louis. She was erected in the first half of the XVII century and gave the name around the quarter nearby Veneto Street and Villa Borghese. The mansion himself was built earlier as a country house Cardinal – a nephew and favorite of the Pope Gregory XV Lududiko Louis (1595-1632).

During the years of work in Rome, Karavago painted the arch in one of the halls of three figures – Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, the patrons of the sky, the sea and the underground kingdom. This is the only fresco created by the artist. In addition, many rooms in the palace are painted by frescoes Gradsino.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is an Italian artist, a reformer of European painting of the XVII century, the founder of realism in painting, one of the largest masters Baroque.