I guess the universe was listening because yesterday Google alerts sent me a major Raphael update in the form of an article just published in The Art Newspaper, “After Leonardo, the spotlight is on Raphael for the 500th anniversary of his death next year.”
Thankfully, several Raphael retrospectives are in the works in time for the 500th anniversary of the master’s death in April 2020. According to the article, they kick off this October in Urbino, Raphael’s birthplace, at the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, which is located in the former Ducal Palace. “Raphael and his Friends of Urbino will present the young artist in the context of other painters in this leading Renaissance city-court.”
Rome, in collaboration with the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence, then gets in on the action in March 2020, with a show at the Scuderie del Quirinale, an exhibition venue run by Italy’s Ministry of Culture. The Uffizi’s Raphael collection includes his self-portrait, paintings of Agnolo and Maddalena Doni, and the Madonna of the Goldfinch.
Additionally, Milan’s Ambrosiana recently restored and put back on display a cartoon of The School of Athens.
Beyond Italy, London’s National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum are expected to hold Raphael shows, while the Louvre in Paris plans a more general Italian Renaissance exhibition entitled Body and Soul: Sculpture in Italy from Donatello to Michelangelo 1460-1520.
So far, I’ve seen nothing about any shows in North America. However, it’s wonderful to learn that Raphael will get some of his due in Europe starting this fall and running into next summer.
Read the full Art Newspaper article here.
UPDATE ON JUNE 28, 2019: The Galleria Borghese in Rome will also have a Raphael exhibit, according to this interview with the gallery’s director in artnet news: “For Italy, 2020 will be the year of Raphael. The Borghese Gallery already dedicated a large exhibit in 2006 [to the artist], which is no longer repeatable, so it will organize a show around the theme of “the Raphaels of the Borghese” in which new discoveries will be presented. A research project will also be conducted throughout 2020, based on investigations of advanced diagnostics on our Deposizione Baglioni (Baglioni Deposition) by Raphael, generously funded by Bank of America.”
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BEST ROADSIDE SIGN/PLAQUE:
Another little Toronto gem found on Ossington Avenue, just south of Dundas Street. Since he was effectively banned from boxing in the U.S. due to his political views, Muhammad Ali trained at a gym located here in 1966 in preparation for a match with Canadian boxer George Chuvalo. As an interesting side note, legendary Toronto doctor Joseph Greenberg, father of my own family doctor, was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame for his medical care of Chuvalo and other boxers. I wonder if he ever got to meet Muhammad Ali?
Gina Buonaguro 