Works from the most important museums in the world, over two hundred masterpieces including paintings, drawings and comparative works never brought together before: Rome will celebrate in grand style, at the Scuderie del Quirinale, next year, Raffaello Sanzio superstar of the Renaissance, on the five hundredth anniversary of his death, which took place in Rome on April 6, 1520 at the age of just 37.
The exhibition, which finds its inspiration particularly in Raphael's fundamental Roman period and which consecrated him as an artist of incomparable and legendary greatness, tells the whole complex and articulated creative path in rich detail. It will include creations famous all over the world, such as, just to name a few, the Madonna of the Grand Duke of the Uffizi Galleries, the Santa Cecilia from the Pinacoteca of Bologna, the Madonna Alba from the National Gallery of Washington, the Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione and the Self-portrait with a friend from the Louvre, the Madonna della Rosa from the Prado, the famous Velata again from the Uffizi.
“The Raphael exhibition – declares the Ministry of Cultural Heritage Dario Franceschini – is a major European exhibition that brings together masterpieces never brought together until now. The right way to celebrate the greatness and fame of a universal artist 500 years after his death. The prestigious exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale, which like the one dedicated to Leonardo at the Louvre sees the collaboration of the largest Italian and international museums, will allow the public to admire a considerable corpus of works by Raphael".
In terms of loaned masterpieces (as well as scientific work carried out), if the contribution of the Uffizi Galleries was decisive, with around 50 works of which over 40 by Raphael himself, it also involved some of the most prestigious Italian and international museums who have made their collections available such as the National Galleries of Ancient Art, the National Pinacoteca of Bologna, the Museum and Real Bosco di Capodimonte, the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, the Brescia Museums Foundation, and abroad, in addition to Vatican Museums, the Louvre, the National Gallery in London, the Prado Museum, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Albertina in Vienna, the British Museum, the Royal Collection, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Lille. Overall there will be more than 200 works on display.
“The Uffizi Galleries, where the largest number of Raphael's paintings and drawings in the world are concentrated, – declares the Director of the Uffizi Galleries, Schmidt – participate with enthusiasm in the organization of this epochal anniversary, to offer a new, in-depth vision by Raphael, especially for the period in which the artist lived in Rome. The exhibition, the result of an unprecedented collaboration between the Uffizi Galleries and the Scuderie del Quirinale, takes place in the capital not by chance: Rome is not only a biographical stage of the artist, but the symbol of the national dimension of his art and of the his thoughts".
And satisfaction is also expressed by Mario Di Simoni, President of Ales-Scuderie del Quirinale: “The Raphael exhibition, created in scientific collaboration and on loans with the Uffizi, is the demonstration of how correct the location of the Scuderie del Quirinale is in close connection with the large system of state museums. It is the ideal culmination of the twenty years that the Scuderie del Quirinale has been open to the public”.
The exhibition makes use of the contribution of an authoritative international scientific committee, chaired by Sylvia Ferino who supported and deepened the work of the curatorial team, such as Nicholas Penny (former director of the National Gallery of London), Barbara Jatta (director of the Vatican Museums), Dominique Cordellier (Musée du Louvre), Achim Gnann (Albertina, Vienna), Alessandro Nova (Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence).
The exhibition, created by the Scuderie del Quirinale (belonging to the Presidency of the Republic and managed by the Mibact through the in-house company ALES), in collaboration with the Uffizi Galleries, curated by Marzia Faietti and Matteo Lafranconi with the contribution of Vincenzo Farinella and Francesco Paolo Di Teodoro, will be inaugurated on 3 March 2020 in the presence of the highest offices of the state and the official representatives of the main lending countries. From 5 March the exhibition will open to the public and will be open until 2 June.
