A restored 1609 Caravaggio painting has gone on display to the public in Rome, bbc.co.uk reports.
The Resurrection of Lazarus, also known as The Raising of Lazarus, depicts the biblical story where Jesus raises an exhumed Lazarus from the dead. Taking seven months to complete, this is the first restoration work to be carried out on the painting in 60 years.
The oil painting was commissioned by Giovan Battista de'Lazzari, a wealthy businessman and features a largely nondescript dark background to emphasise the drama surrounding the figures.
Holiday makers enjoying a holiday in Rome will have the opportunity to see this work of art until July 15th at the Palazzo Braschi, then it will be returned to Sicily - where the painting has been kept for centuries in the church of the Crociferi fathers in Messina, then later in a museum. During this time, it survived the Great Messina Earthquake of 1908.
Restorers believe that the painting was finished in a hurry. At time of painting, Caravaggio had just escaped from prison in Malta and not long left Rome after having killed a man in a street brawl, telegraph.co.uk revealed. He died the year after the painting was finished, aged 36.
"During this period of his life, Caravaggio was forced to finish his paintings very quickly, and therefore he refined his technique in order to achieve this objective," said restorer, Anna Maria Marcone. "He used local materials and used the dark background in order to quickly realise the figures."
The picture will go on show at the Regional Museum of Messina in Sicily from July 25th, following its journey from Rome.
