Italian government buys da Messina painting for US$14.9 million and brings it back to Italy

(27 Mar 2026)

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4647905

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome – 26 March 2026
1. Italy’s Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli and President of of the Senate of the Republic Ignazio La Russa pulling cloth off of “Ecce Homo”
2. Pan from crowd applauding to painting
3. Person taking photo of painting on phone
4. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Alessandro Giuli, Italian Minister of Culture:
++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON SHOT 1 AND IS PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 2, 5-7, SPLIT SCREEN WITH SHOT 3++
“It was a painting that was about to go on the auction block at Sotheby’s and we managed to acquire it, without it going up for auction. So at a very convenient starting price for us, but above all, very important for the mission to bring back to Italy a painting of such importance. And to make it available for Italian citizens."
5. Close of face
6. Person taking photo of work
7. Various of painting
8. Italian art experts and officials looking at the back side of the panel “St. Jerome the Penitent”
9. Tilt up of back side of panel
10. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Federica Zalabra, director of the National Museum of Abruzzo:
++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON SHOT 8 AND IS PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 9&11-12++
“So it was used by its owner to pray, while he was looking at Christ he would pray in front of it, when he looked at the “St Jerome the Penitent” he would kiss it, so St. Jerome has been completely rubbed off. And having direct contact with this work of art in that way, by kissing it and touching it, has caused damage.”
11. Close of head of St. Jerome where the paint has been rubbed off by devotional kissing
12. St. Jerome the Penitent on back of panel
13. Corridor in Italian Senate leading to room with “Ecce Uomo”
STORYLINE:
The Italian government bought a devotional painting of early Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina for $14.9 million (12.6 million euros) from Sotheby’s in New York and unveiled at the Italian Senate on Thursday.

Italy’s Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli said the work was about to go on the auction block at Sotheby’s so Italy intervened and managed to negotiate for the work “starting at a convenient price.”

He flew to New York this week to see the work and complete the deal with Sotheby’s and returned just in time for the unveiling.

It is a devotional painting on a wooden panel measuring 20.3 cm (7.9 inches) by 14.9 (5.8 inches). On one side is the “Ecce Homo” and on the other St. Jerome the Penitent.

“Ecce Uomo” depicts Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head and a rope around his neck in the moment when Pontius Pilate hands him over to the angry crowd to take him to be crucified.

The artwork was carried by its owner in a leather bag for years and pulled out to be used in prayer. The face of Saint Jerome has been worn away by the owner’s repeated devotional kissing.

“St. Jerome has been completely rubbed off,” noted Federica Zalabra, director of the National Museum of Abruzzo, the first museum that will display the painting, saying one of the early owners “would kiss it" and "having direct contact with this work of art in that way, by kissing it and touching it, has caused damage.”

The panel dates from around 1470.

The acquisition comes two weeks after Italy bought a rare portrait by baroque painter Caravaggio for 30 million euros (about $35 million), one of the largest state investments ever for a single artwork.

The painting depicts Maffeo Barberini, a nobleman who later became Pope Urban VIII.
AP video shot by Paolo Santalucia

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