Villa Aurora in Rome is up for auction in January with an opening bid of almost €500m. The villa houses the world’s only ceiling mural by Caravaggio.
A villa in Rome containing the only ceiling mural ever painted by the Italian master Caravaggio is up for sale for almost €500million.
Villa Aurora is close to Via Veneto in central Rome. It is the final piece of what was once a cardinal’s retreat.
Ceiling mural by Caravaggio
Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte commoissioned the 2.75-metre wide painting Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto in the 16th century. It adorned the ceiling in his alchemy laboratory at Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, better known as Villa Aurora.
“Del Monte bought property there, which he restructured before commissioning Caravaggio to paint the mural in his lab, which was only a very small room,” said Alessandro Zuccari, a history professor at Sapienza University in Rome who oversaw the valuation of the mural. “It’s an extraordinary work which was difficult to put a price on, seeing as it was the only mural ever done by Caravaggio and so we had nothing to compare it to.”
Caravaggio painted the mural when he was in his 20s. Zuccari values the artwork at no less than €310million. The whole property will go under the hammer on 18th January with an opening bid of €471million. The new owner will have to spend another €11m in restoration costs.
The sale of Villa Aurora comes after a lengthy inheritance dispute after the death of its owner, Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi, in 2018.
Frescoes and antiques
The building also contains rooms frescoed by the baroque painter Guercino. The noble Ludovisi family, which had close ties with the papacy, commissioned the Guercino works.
“There are other rooms decorated spectacularly but the most important works are by Caravaggio and Guercino,” said Zuccari. “It’s a place that’s unique in the world.”
The building, protected by the ministry of culture, has many other antiques. Once a bid has been agreed at auction, the state has the chance to buy the property at the same price.
“The state will have the right to buy it; the problem will be whether it can pay such a high price,” said Zuccari.
