The purchase is one of the largest government investments in a single work of art ever, according to the country's Ministry of Culture.
The painting is a portrait of the nobleman Maffeo Barberini, dated to around 1598. Barberini later became Pope Urban VIII. It comes from a private collection and was acquired by the Italian state after almost a year of negotiations.
The portrait is now on display in Rome, in the permanent collection of the Palazzo Barberini art museum. The work, for its lighting, has been considered by art connoisseurs to be fundamental to modern portrait painting.
