On the 5th anniversary of Raphael's death there will be a major exhibition from XNUMX March at the Scuderie del Quirinale. Before that, the Barberini Corsini National Galleries will dedicate three days of studies, investigations and insights to the "Fornarina": Raphael up close, a project by Alessandro Cosma and Chiara Merucci. The days are Tuesday 28, Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 January 2020, and will give the opportunity to closely observe Raphael's masterpiece, in order to discover all the secrets of the work. In addition, a meeting with the museum's curators and restorers is scheduled at 11 am each day to learn about the history and technique of this portrait. The visits are free, upon purchase of the ticket and reservation at the ticket office.
The first day will be dedicated to a Gigapixel+3D photogrammetric acquisition of the work, i.e. a very high resolution shot obtained through the union of several macrophotographs of details of the same subject. It will be done on the front, back and sides, so as to allow magnifications higher than what the human eye can do, with a rendering of colors, tones, details, sharpness and illumination not achievable in any other way. Furthermore, the 3D model obtained from the photogrammetric campaign will make it possible to map the shape of the object, the brushstrokes and the cracks and can be used not only for monitoring the state of conservation of the painting, but also for disseminating and enhancing the image . The Gigapixel shooting will be carried out by Franco Cosimo Panini's Haltadefinizione group, with the digital imaging technological support of the partner company Memooria.
The second and third day, however, will be dedicated to one macro scanning campaign of X-Ray Fluorescence (MA-XRF). These analyzes provide high-resolution images of the chemical elements present on the painting, analyzing individual points. The innovative aspect of which is to provide real images of the distribution of the individual chemical elements detected, offering the possibility of knowing the nature of the pigments, the pictorial techniques and the state of conservation. This scan will be carried out by "Emmebi diagnostic artistic" and "Ars Mensurae", with tools developed within the MUSA Project (Multichannel Scanner for Artworks, in collaboration with the National Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Roma 3 University and the Department of Basic Applied Sciences for Engineering, La Sapienza.
The painting already belonged to the first owners of the building, the Sforza di Santafiora, and was later purchased by the Barberinis. According to tradition, the woman portrayed is Raphael's muse and lover: Margherita Liti, daughter of a baker from Trastevere, hence the nickname "Fornarina". Having no information on the commissioner of the work, this supports the hypothesis according to which Raphael painted it for himself, in his last years of life. Whether or not she is Raphael's lover, this imperfect face, with marked features, hides a representation of Venus. The pose of the hands follows the model of the "Venus pudica" of classical statuary: with one placed on the lap and the other on the breast, it indicates a gesture of modesty which, however, directs the gaze precisely to what one would like to hide. Another element that refers to the goddess of love is the bracelet on which we read "Raphael Urbinas", signature of the author and bond of love. In the background you can see the quince branch, symbol of fertility.
