Raffaello

A red rose on his tomb at the Pantheon will commemorate, throughout 2020, the anniversary of the death of one of the most admired artists of all time, “by whom Nature feared to be outdone while he lived, and when he died, feared that she would die with him”. Five hundred years have passed since that day: Raffaello Sanzio died in Rome on 6 April 1520, after a sudden illness, at the age of just 37; a short life but studded with masterpieces unmatched in grace, beauty, and perfection. And always in Rome, the city that consecrated him as an artist of peerless and legendary mastery, and where he left his signature in admirable works, between the Vatican, Piazza del Popolo, Villa Farnesina, Santa Maria Della Pace and Sant’Agostino, the exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale retraces the whole of his complex creative trajectory with a wealth of detail and celebrates his genius.

Simply entitled “Raphael”, the exhibition constitutes the high point of the world-wide commemorative celebrations for the fifth centennial of his death, and the showpiece of the program approved by a specially-instituted national committee. Realized in collaboration with the Uffizi Galleries, it is a spectacular monographic exhibition curated by Marzia Faietti and Matteo Lafranconi, with the assistance of Vincenzo Farinella and Francesco Paolo Di Teodoro and of an authoritative scientific committee. Never before had a similar amount of Raphael’s works been gathered together: over two hundred masterpieces including paintings, drawings and works for comparison, of which over one hundred by the Renaissance master.

The contribution of the Uffizi Galleries has proved crucial also in terms of loaned masterpieces, about 50, of which over 40 by Raphael himself. But many other museums of international importance have contributed to enriching the exhibition, including the Vatican Museums, the Louvre, the National Gallery of London, the Prado Museum and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The beloved creations of world-wide renown on show include, for example, the Madonna del Granduca and Woman with a Veil from the Uffizi, St Cecilia from the Pinacoteca in Bologna, the Alba Madonna (National Gallery, Washington), the Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione and Self-Portrait with Friend (Louvre) and the Madonna of the Rose (Prado).