Antonello da Messina's Ecce Homo, which was recently purchased by the Italian government, is ready to return home. Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli came to New York to mark this "historic" step, which was marked with a ceremony at Sotheby's on Madison Avenue. The sculpture will be presented in L'Aquila, which has been selected as the Italian Capital of Culture, but, as Giuli stated, it will ideally have the entire country as its "home". This will also enable future "reunions" with other exceedingly rare works by the artist, such as another Ecce Homo housed at the Collegio Alberoni in Piacenza. During his visit to the United States, Giuli also attended the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's big Raphael exhibition, which was made possible in part by the Italian contribution of dozens of pieces. "Art is a universal language", he declared, "and it is imperative that culture unite, particularly in this moment, when it is crucial to reinstate it as the focal point of public discourse".