Caravaggio Fresco Housed in a Roman Villa To be Auctioned

On January 18th, a 30,000-square-foot-villa located in downtown Rome was put up for auction. The cost of Villa Aurora was notably expensive – but not for its size or location. Along with a host of other paintings by baroque influencers such as Guercino, the Villa boasts a Caravaggio fresco: Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto. Caravaggio originally painted this piece for Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte in 1597. 

The 16th century fresco depicts the Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto as presented in an allegory of Paracelsus made of sulphur and air. Caravaggio uses these gods and their elements to portray this chemical balance. Each god sides with their beasts staring towards the central spherical sun.

The price tag of this fresco alone was valued at $310 million by Alessandro Zuccari, a professor at the nearby Rome University tasked with evaluating the monetary value of the entire villa. Rutgers University classics professor T. Corey Brennan also remarked that the large price tag was accurate because of the undiscovered realm that Villa Aurora has to offer. Throughout the previous hundred years, ancient frescoes have been discovered behind false walls as well as ancient Roman ruins underneath the villa, which is still largely undiscovered. The Boncompagni Ludovisi family has owned the property for the past 400 years, but a recent inheritance conflict led to the current judicial sale. 

No prospective buyers have come forward to bid at asking price as of this writing. The Villa Aurora will be offered for auction again on April 7th, 2022.