The Caravaggio Paintings at the Doria Pamphilj

Q: How many Caravaggio paintings are at the Galleria Doria Pamphilj?

Three. The Penitent Mary Magdalene of the early 1590s, the Rest on the Flight into Egypt of about 1597, and Saint John the Baptist , the youth with a ram, composed in 1601 or 1602. Most guides print two and drop the Baptist.

Q: Which is the most famous Caravaggio here?

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt , with the violin-playing angel seen from behind: oil on canvas, 135.5 × 166.5 cm, around 1597. It is wider and gentler than the Caravaggio most visitors arrive expecting. The rest of the route .

There are three, not two. Most guidebooks and most listings print two, and they are wrong. On the walls here: the Penitent Mary Magdalene from the early 1590s, the Rest on the Flight into Egypt of around 1597, and Saint John the Baptist — the youth with a ram — whose composition dates from 1601 or 1602 and which scholars recognise as from Caravaggio’s own hand.

Caravaggios hereThree

Usually reportedTwo

EarliestPenitent Mary Magdalene, early 1590s

Best knownRest on the Flight into Egypt, c. 1597

ThirdSaint John the Baptist, composed 1601/02

Known copies of the thirdEleven

Penitent Mary Magdalene

Oil on canvas, 122.5 × 98.5 cm. Sources give the date as 1593 or as 1594–95, which is why I write the early 1590s and leave it there. A young woman sits on a low chair with her jewellery on the floor beside her and her head tipped forward, and Caravaggio has painted a girl having a bad afternoon rather than a saint having a revelation. That was the scandal and it is still the reason to stand in front of it.

Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Oil on canvas, 135.5 × 166.5 cm, about 1597, and the picture most people come for. An angel with his back to you plays the violin while Joseph holds the music and the Virgin sleeps with the child. It is wide, quiet and much greener than the Caravaggio you have in your head. If you have seen the Contarelli Chapel and thought you knew what he did with darkness, this will adjust that.

Saint John the Baptist, the youth with a ram

The one the counts miss. Scholars recognise it as from Caravaggio’s own hand; the composition dates from 1601 or 1602, painted while he was living at the Palazzo Mattei, and eleven copies of it are known, which tells you how badly seventeenth-century Rome wanted a version. When a guidebook says this gallery has two Caravaggios, this is the one it has dropped.

Insider tip

Do not go hunting for the three in a single room. They are distributed along the route like everything else here, at whatever height the 1767 arrangement put them, and sources disagree about exactly where individual works hang. Follow the commentary rather than a floor plan from a blog.

Why the count keeps going wrong

Partly because attributions move and old guidebooks do not, and partly because there is no wall text here correcting anybody. The pictures are arranged to a manuscript of 1767, hung for symmetry, several rows high, in corridors rather than galleries — so nothing in the building announces itself. The included audio guide is the gallery’s way of telling you what you are in front of, and it is the reason I keep saying collect one at the desk: what the commentary is. If you want somebody to point and answer back, that is a guided visit, and there is exactly one listing that does it — guided tours.

Seeing Caravaggio in Rome without queueing

This is the argument for coming. Three autograph Caravaggios in a palace that still sells tickets at the door, in a gallery reviewers describe as uncrowded, about 500 metres from the Pantheon. No timed release thirty days out, no cap of 180 people a shift. What you do need to know is the day: the place is shut every Wednesday — opening hours.

Reserve an entry slot

A plain reserved ticket to the gallery, collected at the desk on Via del Corso: 4.7 from 1,910 reviews, the largest review sample on this attraction by a wide margin, with the included commentary while the desk still has units.

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Frequently asked questions

How many Caravaggio paintings are at the Galleria Doria Pamphilj?

Three. The Penitent Mary Magdalene of the early 1590s, the Rest on the Flight into Egypt of about 1597, and Saint John the Baptist, the youth with a ram, composed in 1601 or 1602. Most guides print two and drop the Baptist.

Which is the most famous Caravaggio here?

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, with the violin-playing angel seen from behind: oil on canvas, 135.5 × 166.5 cm, around 1597. It is wider and gentler than the Caravaggio most visitors arrive expecting. The rest of the route.

Is Saint John the Baptist really by Caravaggio?

Scholars recognise it as from his own hand. The composition dates from 1601 or 1602, painted while he was living at the Palazzo Mattei, and eleven copies of it are known — the copies are part of why the attribution gets muddled in print.

Do I need a guide to find them?

Not to find them, but you will want the commentary to know what you are looking at: this hang carries little or no conventional labelling. It is included with admission in four languages, subject to availability — details here.