Four hundred years after the birth of Carlo Maratti (Camerano 1625 - Rome 1713) and on the occasion of the publication of the reasoned catalog of his works, the National Galleries of Ancient Art present CARLO MARATTI AND THE PORTRAIT. POPES AND PRINCES OF THE ROMAN BAROQUE, a focused exhibition curated by Simonetta Prosperi Valenti Rodinò and Yuri Primarosa which, from December 6, 2024, to February 16, 2025, brings to the halls of Palazzo Barberini the portrait production of the Marche Master, a central figure in Roman and Italian painting of the second half of the seventeenth century.

Although the painter's success is mainly linked to sacred subject paintings and the numerous decorations executed for the churches of Rome, Maratti was a renowned European portraitist who, through these works, managed to establish the primacy of his workshop and his role as an arbiter of artistic taste on the Roman scene for over half a century.

For realistic effectiveness, meticulous execution, balance and expressiveness, calibrated interaction between introspection and exhibition of the public role, and naturally for pictorial quality, the works on display - some of which have been restored for the occasion - stand up to comparison with those of the best specialists of the time.