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Home , Baldassare Castiglione, Bernardo Dovizi, La Fornarina, La velata, Lorenzetto, Madonna del Granduca

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Of Books, Art and People RAPHAEL SUPERSTAR

n On this page, Raphael’s self-portrait; and BY LUCY GORDAN del Granduca; Portrait of with Two Cardinals ith over 70,000 ad - One loan is Raphael’s realistic vance ticket sales Uffizi Portrait of Pope Leo X with Two Cardi - from all over the Commissioned by the W nals (c. 1517). world and, as of this writing Pope himself and painted in , it was (in late February) no cancelations a wedding present for his nephew Loren - in spite of coronavirus, the mega- zo, the Duke of , who fathered show three years in the planning Catherine who became Queen of France, “Raf - was opened on and so ended up in the . The cardi - faello 1520-1483” Uffizi March 3 by Sergio Mattarella, the nal on the left is the Pope’s nephew, Giu - president of . To celebrate the liano de’ Medici (future Pope Clement 500th death anniversary of the “ VII); the other is Cardinal Luigi de’ divin or “ Rossi, a maternal cousin. It was especial - pictor” dio mortale” (“mortal as his contemporary artist-bi - ly restored for “ at the God”) Raffaello” Opificio ographer called in delle Pietre Dure . Raphael, it’s on in the Quirinal’s The other paintings by Raphael Uffizi until June 2. [ : are his , Scuderie Note The gov - San Giovanni Battista , perhaps a portrait of Raphael’s great love ernment announced in early March .] Margherita Luti; a portrait of the closing of the show until April 3 due to the virus Cardinal On display are 240 works-of-art; 120 of them (includ - (1470-1520), a patron of Raphael, a close da Bibbiena ing the based on his advisor to Pope Leo X and the uncle of Raphael’s official Tapestry of The Sacrifice of Lystra cartoons and his letter to Medici-born Pope Leo X, reign but not beloved fiancée; Ezekiel’s Vision, Madonna del 1513-21, about the importance of preserving Rome’s an - and a portrait of Granduca Madonna dell’Impannata, tiquities) are by Raphael himself. Twenty-seven of these wall-eyed Prefect of the Vatican Li - , are paintings, the rest mostly drawings. brary, , and one of his two A Young Man with an Apple Never before have so many works by Raphael been self-portraits here, which is the logo of the exhibition . displayed in a single exhibition. They are on loan from Raphael is best-known for his Madonnas: three, all 55 different private collections and museums: The Lou - painted in Rome, are returning for the first time: Wash - vre, London’s National Gallery and Royal Collection ington’s (c. 1510) Capodimonte’s Naples) d’Alba , ( of Di - HM Elizabeth II, Washington D.C.’s National Gallery, (c. 1516), and the Prado’s (1518- vine Love of the Rose The Metropolitan, Florence’s Rome’s 20). He is also famous for his realistic portraits. The most Palazzo Pitti, and , to name just a famous is on loan from Rome’s and Villa Borghese Palazzo Barberini few. Several are returning to Rome for the depicts, according to Vasari although with first time since their creation there. no evidence, his beloved mistress, The most generous lender is the Margherita Luti, known as Uffizi in Florence with 49 works, mostly draw - because her father was a baker. ings. “Only 10 of the Museum’s 21 However, “ con - Raffaello 1520-1483” Raphael canvases, since 2018 on display centrates on the artist’s love of antiquity in ‘a room of their own’ with works by and of Rome, to which he owes his fame, Michelangelo and Leonardo, have been thanks to his patrons Pope Julius II, Pope loaned, but visitors who’ve seen Leo X, and their banker Agostino Chigi. ‘Raffael - will receive a 33% discount on the en - These inverted dates are intentional — lo’ trance fee to the and a flashback of sorts. At the time of his Uffizi Palazzo Pitti and vice versa German art historian death at only age 37 on Good Friday, ,” Eike Schmidt, Director of the since Raphael, at the height of his fame, was al - Uffizi 2015 announced at a late February press ready a cult figure in Rome. He was ven - , conference at the Ministry of Culture. erated and it was commonly believed that

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his death on Good Friday was not a coincidence, but the altars and stela because in 1514 Pope Leo X had put will of God. During the eight days of his high fever, he’d Raphael in charge of collecting ancient artifacts in the requested to be buried in the Pantheon, the temple to all hopes of rebuilding a modern Rome as glorious as Impe - the ancient gods before becoming the Christian church rial Rome. It was the ancient monument he Also here are Raphael’s drawings of ancient sculp - Santa Maria dei Martiri. loved most. Hence the exhibition begins with two paint - tures and monuments, in particular the Pantheon, his ings of his tragic premature death: compass and topical surveys of the ancient by Raphael’s fora by Piero V anni (1845-1905) and the architect Antonio da Sangallo the Younger Funeral (1484-1546). Homage Paid to Raphael on his by Pierre-Nolasque Berg - Generally speaking, the 10 rooms of Deathbed eret (1782-1863). “Raffaello 1520-1483” follow a retro - Next comes a reproduction of spective chronological order. The his tomb with a reproduction of highlights in Rooms 4 and 5 are his the by his religious works; Room 6 his por - Madonna del Sasso trusted collaborator , traits; Room 7 his architectural who used an ancient Roman drawings, especially those for St. sculpture of Venus as his model, Peter’s Basilica; and Rooms 8-10 and Raphael’s epitaph, writ ten by his pre-Rome works. The earliest of his friend (1470- these, an ink drawing of a hand hold - 1547), a Venetian scholar and hu - ing a pen and a face of a young boy, manist, who met Raphael at the court dates to 1497-9. of Urbino. The Latin text reads: “Here Rome is the perfect location for a mega- lies the great Raphael, by whom Nature show about Raphael because, as I wrote in my feared to be conquered while he lived, January article “Raphael and His Friends The and and, when he was dying, feared herself to from Urbino,” many of his greatest works die.” Portrait of are frescoes and thus not transportable, not The centerpiece of Room Two — not to mention the to mention the ancient ruins that he so loved. exhibition’s — is Raphael’s letter written Therefore after visits to “ his raison d’être Raffaello 1520-1483,” with the help of , diplomat, soldier, and author of frescoed rooms, paintings, and in the Vatican Loggia Baldassare Castiglione (1478- Museums and St. Peter’s, wander in the various and The Book of the Courtier, fora 1529), in 1519 to Pope Leo X. Although it may never Nero’s Golden House on the Oppian Hill; pay him have been sent, the two close friends begin by emphasiz - homage at his grave in the Pantheon; admire his archi - ing the importance of preserving the glory of ancient tecture and mosaics in the Chigi funerary Chapel of San - Rome so that contemporary Rome could once again be and in the Church of ta Maria del Popolo Sant’Eligio the center of the world and of culture. and his Sybil fresco in a chapel of the degli Orefici; A second section includes a summary of the history of church and his Santa Maria della Pace Prophet Isaiah architecture and building techniques, and the third and in the Basilica of , both near Piazza Sant’Agostino last a technical survey of the ancient Navona; and especially his many fres - monuments under study. coes in Agostino Chigi’s Hence the rest of the exhibition traces in Trastevere. the direct influence of ancient Roman art To learn more about this genius who on Raph ael’s creations. Clearly some of never married, his loves, and his life in the ancient sculptures on display inspired Rome, read Vasari’s biography and the the figures in his paintings, like the head historical novel, by Diane The Ruby Ring of Isis and or Antinuous Haeger. Santa Cecilia and After this full-immersion experience, . On display in Rooms 2 and 3 are por - one can’t help but wonder what this ar - traits of the Letter’s three protagonists by chitect, drauftsman, painter, poet, and Raphael: Leo X, Castiglione and his self- archeologist, who died of mysterious portrait with a friend, the latter two on causes, most likely exhaustion, might loan from the . Also on display have accomplished had he lived Leonar - here are many recently-excavated ancient do’s 67 or Michelangelo’s 89 years. m

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