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20 October 2004 - 16 January 2005
Sainsbury Wing. Admission Charge
Sponsored by Credit Suisse First Boston
This autumn, the National Gallery is staging a major exhibition of works by Raphael (1483 - 1520), one of the greatest of all Italian Renaissance painters. The exhibition charts the dramatic rise of the gifted young artist from his earliest works to the flowering of his talent under the patronage of Pope Julius II. This is the first time such a comprehensive show of paintings and drawings by the artist has been attempted outside Italy and this unique event will take place in London only.
Many of the loan paintings have never been seen in Britain, while others return to these shores for the first time since being sold in the 19th century. Among them are the newly-cleaned 'Alba Madonna' from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the 'Conestabile Madonna' from the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, the Louvre's 'Saint George' and 'Saint Michael' and the Uffizi 'Self-Portrait'.
Generously sponsored by Credit Suisse First Boston, this is the third in a series of major exhibitions at the National Gallery devoted to the great Renaissance artists that has included Titian and, most recently, El Greco. As well as many prestigious international loans, the exhibition will centre on the National Gallery's own collection of nine magnificent Raphael paintings, including the newly-acquired 'Madonna of the Pinks'. It features a large number of Britain's remarkable holding of Raphael drawings on loan from the British Museum, the Ashmolean Museum and the Royal Collection.
Raphael's precocious talent and determined efforts to outshine his contemporaries took him on an extraordinary journey. Within a decade, he moved from painting altarpieces for provincial towns in central Italy to assume a dominant position at the enlightened papal court in Rome. The show spans the entire scope of this period and will include over 100 paintings and drawings.
Raphael was a brilliant draughtsman and designer and the exhibition explores his techniques as well as the meaning and context of his work. It opens with Raphael's artistic origins under the tutelage of his father, the painter, Giovanni Santi and the influence of the Umbrian masters Perugino and Pintoricchio. It continues by exploring Raphael's first independent works for religious institutions and private patrons. In 1504 Raphael went to Florence to study the works of great masters including Leonardo and Michelangelo and their influence on the young artist is examined. Raphael's career changed gear again following his move to Rome to work for Pope Julius II whose complex character he so convincingly captures in the National Gallery's magisterial portrait. The exhibition also includes nine drawings for the 'Disputa', the first of the frescoes Raphael painted in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican.
The exhibition's curator, Carol Plazzotta, says 'A monographic Raphael show, particularly one devoted to the transition from the artist's fresh early style to the assured classicism of his Roman maturity, is long overdue in this country. Its aim is to reintroduce the public to an extraordinarily versatile artist, whose facility and unparalleled grasp of design revolutionised the art of painting.'
To mark the exhibition, the National Gallery is running a programme of Raphael educational events, including a season of Italian films. Both BBC ONE and Channel Five will be screening programmes on the life and work of the artist.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue containing much new research by Hugo Chapman, Tom Henry and Carol Plazzotta with contributions from Arnold Nesselrath and Nicholas Penny.
For further information please contact: Sophie Silocchi, Press Office 020 7747 2512 sophie.silocchi@ng-london.org.uk
For images please contact: Lara Raymond, Press Office 020 7747 2596 lara.raymond@ng-london.org.uk
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