"LATE RAPHAEL" REIGNS IN SPAIN

"Late Raphael," at Madrid's Prado Museum, is an attempt to give Raphael (1483-1520) an overdue blockbuster.

The exhibition includes an unprecedented selection of forty-four paintings, twenty eight drawings, an archaeological item and a tapestry, loaned from around forty different institutions. Visitors can see a chronologically structured survey organised into six sections that cover Raphael’s pictorial and aesthetic evolution and also presents a comparison of his final style with a group of works by his two assistants Romano and Penni, the latter produced both during Raphael’s lifetime and immediately after his death. This unprecedented opportunity for comparison allow for an identification of the degree of participation of Raphael and his assistants in these works while also helps to establish the latter’s intellectual and aesthetic contribution to Raphael’s oeuvre. Among the most outstanding works that have travelled to Spain for the first time are the serene portrait of one of the artist’s friends, Baldassare Castiglione (1519), loaned from the Louvre, and the major altar painting of Saint Cecilia (1515-1516) loaned from the Pinacoteca Nazionale de Bolonia in which the viewer can appreciate the remarkable beauty of the figures and their perfect, harmonious composition, a level of achievement that Raphael attained during his time in Rome. Also remarkable are the paintings from Raphael’s late period in the Prado’s own collection, including the panel transferred to canvas known as Lo Spasimo di Sicilia (1515-1516), which is on display for the first time since its restoration.

The exhibition began on June 12 and will end in Madrid Sept. 16; then most of the paintings travel to Paris's Louvre Museum, which collaborated with the Prado on the show and will feature a different set of drawings.