Monika Schmitter

This photograph taken on January 21, 2022, shows the ceiling painting ‘Aurora on Her Triumphal Chariot’ by Guercino in the Casino dell’Aurora inside the Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi in Rome. – A Roman villa housing the only mural by Caravaggio failed to find a bidder in an auction on January 18, 2022 sparked by a dispute between its heirs. The sprawling Casino dell’Aurora will be put up for sale again in April, with the base price of 471 million euros ($534 million) lowered by about 20 percent, according to the notary involved in the sale.<br />
– RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION – TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION – TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION / TO GO WITH AFPS TORY BY GILDAS LE ROUX – RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION – TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo by VINCENZO PINTO/AFP via Getty Images)

A rare Caravaggio masterpiece valued at $331 million is locked away in a private Italian villa at the center of a bitter inheritance battle

By Monika Schmitter and The Conversation